From the Game to the Grail
by The4Ryan9
Summary: Twenty years after the fifth grail war the grail activated again, marking the start of the sixth war. As the last Tohsaka, Rin was determined to once again prevent disaster with Shirou at her side, and a recently freed Kirito receives an interesting proposal from a friend.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, new story! It's been a while since I've posted one of these. The basis of this story comes from two things, an observation, about the timelines of SAO and Fate, and a theory about Demi-Servants. The first of these is of course the simpler, FSN occurs in 2004, with the previous Grail war happening 10 years before that, the grail war was accelerated since no wish was made despite the ritual being completed, changing the interval from 50 years to 10. SAO, starts in November of 2022, and the players escape the game in October of 2024. Also of importance is the time of year the Grail War occurs during, in Fate Zero and FSN we never get a solid date, however we do see snow appear in both though rarely. This implies that the war takes place late in the year, November or December in all likeliness. My beta actually has some head canon that the first day of the actual Grail War is December 12th since that's the release date of the first volume of the light novel.**

 **Regardless all that matter is that the dates line up perfectly so that, if Saber's Excalibur had damaged the Grail more in the 5th war than the 4th thus delaying the Grail's activation to 20 years later, the Grail War would occur during the time in between the Aincrad and Alfheim arcs of SAO.**

 **Second is a Fate based theory on Demi-Servants. Now, we only have two canon Demi-Servants, Sieg and Mashu, so information on how they function is limited at best but my theory goes a little like this. First, should a human who would go to the Throne of Heroes on death be used as the container for a Demi-Servant they would be guaranteed to summon themselves. This works because they function as their own catalyst, different from the idea of Shirou summoning EMIYA or No Name because by becoming a Counter Guardian and making a contract with the Moon Cell these versions of Shirou lost their identity of 'Shirou Emiya', and because the Throne exists outside of time and space, meaning all Heroic Spirits have always been and will always be inside of it already.**

 **Second, they would receive a 'fuller' version of the Heroic Spirits power than normal for any Servant. Part of both Demi-Servants and Psuedo-Servants summonings is that their power changes and is lessened based on their new container, restricted by their compatibility and changed by the hosts other skills and personality. Now, the compatibility for the original of a Heroic spirit would literally be the absolute maximum of a host, expanding their power. To me this removes the normal limits of a Servant, actually making them in essence 'classless', where they bring the full brunt of their Skills and Noble Phantasms while losing any benefits a class would normally give them, aka class skills they wouldn't normally posses.**

 **Now, as most of you have guessed by now this story involves Kirito being transformed into a Demi-Servant, and while the above paragraph may make you concerned about Kirito being OP, I can assure that won't be a problem. Kirito is a Demi-Servant, he doesn't know how to use any of his Noble Phantasms by default, and due to the fact that this is just after SAO and before any adventures in ALO, GGO, or in the Alicization arc for those of you that know it, he won't even know what half his Noble Phantasms ARE. In fact, I don't plan to have him discover all of his Noble Phantasms in this story, seeing as one, there are too many potential Noble Phantasms there that having all of them would actually make him OP, and two, SAO and Kirito's adventures aren't actually over meaning there could be Noble Phantasms he would have that I don't know about.**

 **Now, this entire AN has been about Kirito and SAO, so let's take a moment to talk about FSN, Rin and Shirou. This is a standard True Route Bladeworks Shirou, twenty years after the Grail War. For those in the know they'll realize that EMIYA dies in his mid-forties, making this Shirou almost as old. But that does not make him as experienced, since EMIYA has an unknown number of decades or even centuries of service as a Counter Guardian. Though the memories Shirou received from EMIYA in the 5th Grail War make him roughly as skilled as EMIYA. The biggest difference between the two is actually quite simple. Archer is a Servant, Shirou is a human. This has two main effects outside of the obvious, ie astralization, sharing senses with a Master commands seals etc, one, while their reinforcement is roughly the same Archer starts with a much better base than Shirou, meaning he gets more out of his reinforcement and can do more of it. Second, Archer gets his prana from Rin in the 5th Grail War, Shirou is reliant on his own circuits. This means Shirou has much less prana available, so less tracing, less Noble Phantasms, less reinforcing, you get it.**

 **Last and least important is Rin, just because there's the least to explain. There's no Kaliedoscope, no Class Cards, no funny business. Just Gemcraft, Gandr, and the basics. And while she and Shirou are in a relationship and have been since the Grail War that's is minor at best here. There's a reason this story lacks pairings.**

 **That's it then. I'm glad you decided to check this out and surprised you actually read that AN. I mean, damn was that long, but I wanted to answer all the obvious review questions. Have fun and I hope you enjoy Chapter 1 of From the Game to the Grail.**

I looked away from the green stick figure as I started to cross the intersection, my hands stuffed into the pockets of my black coat as my breath came out in heavy clouds, visible in the morning's cold air.

I pulled my phone out of one pocket, pushing the button so I could see the time, 7:43 the display read. I hadn't planned to leave the house this early today, actually I hadn't planned to leave the house at all.

I didn't have any therapy scheduled and I had visited Asuna just yesterday. Of course that all went out the window when I had gotten that message. I took a left after crossing the road, making my way through the morning foot traffic as I sought my objective.

It was strange not to have cursors popping up or lacking any sort of hud in my field of view, and I kept having to remind myself that these were all real people, not NPCs.

I let out a soft sigh as I ducked into a small alleyway going about halfway through it before ducking into an entryway and pushing open the door. I took a moment to relish the warmth of the heated interior before scanning over the room to see if the one I was supposed to meet was here.

I wasn't surprised that she wasn't, we weren't supposed to meet for about fifteen more minutes. In fact the only one here was the owner, no surprise that since the place wasn't actually open yet.

"Hey Agil." I called out to the only man there, a veritable giant of a man, over six feet tall dark skin and a bald head he cut an imposing image despite the nice button down white t-shirt he wore.

"Oi Kirito. How are you doing?" He turned away from the numerous bottles and glasses that he had been inspecting, shelved behind the bar. The place normally served alcohol during the evenings and nights but during the day it was a cafe selling non alcoholic drinks and food.

"Good as can be expected." I spoke as I moved to the bar and wearily took a seat. The Dicey Cafe wasn't too far from the train station but it hadn't been more then a month and half since the game ended and even walking short distances was tiring. I looked back up to the massive man, his size only slightly diminished by the way he seemed skinnier and his clothes baggy. "She's not here yet?"

"No," the man shook his head, "what'd she even message you about? I had to come here early and unlock the place just so you two could have a little rendezvous." I was a little surprised he hadn't been told anything, but then again she'd always been rather secretive and giving out any information for free was uncommon enough for her.

"She didn't say much just something about a wish and a way to save Asuna." I could see the way that the pieces connected in Agil's eyes. It was no secret that I'd been desperate to help her since she hadn't woken at the end of the game.

"I see. Well I don't know about wishes or anything but if you need my help you just have to ask. You and Asuna saved all of us back in the game, now it's our turn to help you two in anyway we can." As he spoke he placed an empty mug in front of me before beginning to fill it with coffee.

"Thanks." I didn't say whether it was for the offer or the coffee, but I was really just grateful in general.

Once he was done filling the cup I picked it up and took a sip without adding any sweetner, the bitter taste would help wake me up as much as the caffeine. I absentmindedly rubbed my leg as I sat, I had left behind my crutches today, I had thought I could make it here without them and while I was right I was feeling the strain from the effort.

"How's your therapy going? I'm sure it's a lot harder to kick out rowdy customers now than it was before." I gave Agil a smirk as I spoke. He was well known as one of the most intimidating players in the game, most players had been pretty serious gamers and a side effect of that very few had been what you could call physically fit.

Agil despite being a gamer hadn't just been an exception, he'd been an exception within the exceptions not only being healthy but also what you'd call buff, now though after two years of atrophy Agil was thin and weak, not as bad as many other players, myself included, were, but he was nowhere near the strength he had been before SAO.

"Therapy is going good actually. And surprisingly it's easier to throw out some sorry drunks than before. After all no wasted social worker could be as terrifying as Skull Reaper." I felt Agil's booming laughter echo in my ears and gave my own soft chuckle as I sipped more of my coffee.

"Yeah, I guess so. My mom has been trying to keep me at home more, worried that I might not be as good as I say, she doesn't realize taking her glares is waaaaay easier than taking on Gleam Eyes." That sent the bartender into another peal of laughter and I couldn't help but smile. I raised my cup again before shifting in my seat as I realized that something simply felt _off_. It took me a moment to realize what it was and then I could only sigh.

"Why the long face?"

"It doesn't feel right, not having my swords on me." I looked back up to Agil as I set my cup down and saw a empathetic smile on the man's face.

"Yeah, every once in a while when I leave the Cafe I'll take a moment to try and equip my axe before I remember that I don't even have it anymore." The giant of a man brought his hand to the back of his head and began to scratch his bald head.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be out, but it doesn't feel right,. This doesn't feel like where I belong anymore. And I know I'm doing better than most, I've still got a store to manage I still have to wrestle with drunks every once in a while. You got two years of school to catch up on, Klein is out of a job and moved back in with his folks, and how many people do you think got out of the game to find out their partner had left them?" I saw Agil begin to sigh but the only sound I heard was the bell as the door to the cafe opened.

"Hello Kii-bou~!" I didn't have to turn around to know who was here but I did anyway. Rather than walking, skipping into the shop was a fairly short girl, dirty blonde hair green eyes and a button nose. Rather than the brown hooded cloak I almost always saw her in she wore a light blue sweat jacket and it didn't surprise me one bit to see she had the hood up. Her tight navy blue jeans covered her legs and I couldn't help but notice that she didn't look all that different in the game, she wasn't particularly skinny or out of shape like I'd expect from a fellow survivor.

"Hello to you too Argo. I'm glad to see you're doing well." I game a small smile as I spoke, I wasn't lying or just being polite after all. I hadn't spoken to Argo since the game was cleared around a month ago and while we had contacted each other more often as business partners than anything else she was someone I'd readily and openly call a friend.

"Of course I'm doing great. An innocent cute girl like me can't let any sort of physical ailment get in the way of my looks!" She even made a little pose as she spoke, leaning forwards a bit and placing her pointer finger on the edge of her mouth.

"Normally a 'innocent cute girl like you' wouldn't be calling themselves one in the first place." Despite my words there was no malice in my voice, in fact I was a little happy to see that Argo wasn't any different outside of the game.

"Teehee~, I didn't realize you thought about me like that Kii-bou, but don't you have a girlfriend?" She sat on the barstool to my left as she spoke and Agil began pouring her a cup of the same coffee I had in front of me. " What would Aa-chan think?" And just like that my demeanor turned serious.

"Argo." My words were no longer lighthearted and jovial, and my tone left no room for banter. This wasn't the tone I took when bartering with Agil or dining with Fuurinkazan, this was how I spoke when planning boss fights, flat and serious. "Do you really have a way to save Asuna?"

I wasn't the only one who turned serious at the change of discussion topic, it was really truly rare to see Argo when she wasn't joking at all, and this was one of those few times. "Agil, do you think Kirito and I could discuss this in private?" Nothing drove home her seriousness like the lack of a certain nickname.

"Oi, don't act like I'm not involved." Agil apparently took offence to Argo's request. "These two saved my life too, Kirito's a good friend and you're the one that asked to meet here. I'm wanna stay and listen and if there's any way I can help I want in too damnit."

I did my best to conceal my smile behind a cup of coffee. I hadn't had friends I could trust to watch my back like this before SAO, and even now I could count those I trusted with my life on my fingers, and those I'd trust with Asuna's life on one hand. Agil easily made both lists and while I didn't want to drag anyone else into this, whatever this is, it looked like Agil might be the one doing the dragging not me.

*sigh*, I turned over to Argo, surprised to hear the exasperated sigh she gave out. "Agil." Her tone was different than I had ever heard it before, off. Like the words she stated were more of a formality or that she saw this part of the conversation as nothing more than a task to be completed. "Don't you need to go take inventory in the stockroom?"

"Er, inventory? Yeah, yeah I do but that can wait this is mor-"

"Don't worry, Kirito or I can fill you in later, we'll tell you if there's any way you can help." Argo didn't let Agil finish his protest and just started talking over him, and then I realized I had heard her use this tone of voice before. Her, me, Agil, and most other people I had interacted with over the last two years had spoken like this. It was like she was talking to an NPC.

"Alright then." Agil's voice seemed, distant almost, as he spoke. "I'm gonna go take inventory, you can lock the front door when you leave right Kirito?" I barely had time to nod in response as Agil turned and left through the back door in the bar, too deep in my own fast paced thoughts.

"Argo-" I made to ask her what she'd done but this time I was the one interrupted.

"Kirito, I can guarantee that if we succeed that you'll be able to save to save Asuna but I need to know what you're willing to do to save her." Argo didn't look to me as she spoke, her gaze fixed on the door through which Agil had left.

The look she had, it wasn't quite distaste, more so discomfort or regret, as if whatever she had done to Agil she wished she didn't have to, but had been forced to in the end. I was more glad that I saw that emotion on her face then I'd care to admit. I wouldn't have known what to do if the Argo I knew was gone, replaced with someone willing and able to treat her friends like NPCs without remorse.

"Anything." I answered her question without hesitation. "I'd go back into SAO at the drop of a hat if it meant I had even the slimmest of chances of helping her."

"What if I told you it was more dangerous than SAO?" I blinked, stunned at the idea for a moment. "And that the odds of us winning, or even surviving, were even lower?"

"I'd do it anyway." I gave a firm nod before pausing a moment. "Well, I'd like to say that but you didn't say 'the odds of _you_ surviving', you said _us_ , and while I'm more than happy to put my life on the line I don't feel comfortable risking yours for my selfishness." I rubbed the back of my head as I spoke, and something in either my words or the action gained a smile from Argo, the first I'd seen in the room since Asuna had been brought up.

"Don't worry about that. Honestly I'll be doing this either way so I just need to figure out if you'll be helping me." She looked away from me again, the smile fading as she stared into the drink Agil had given her before he left.

"Then of course I'll help. Even if I didn't have the chance to save Asuna I can't let you do something so risky on your own." Instead of a reaction I'd expect like smile or an exasperated sigh or even some insult to my intelligence the girl sitting next to me bit her lip in nervousness before dry swallowing and continuing to talk.

"What if I said you'd have to kill someone? Multiple someones?" I flinched back at Argo's words and what they implied. She was asking me to kill? To become a murderer? No, that's not right, I was already a killer afterall.

"Will they, will they be innocent?" I could barely voice the question over the sound of my own heartbeat.

"Kirito," The pure sadness in Argo's voice was perhaps one of the most heart wrenching things I'd ever heard, certainly the most outside of SAO. "That doesn't make as big of a difference as you'd think."

"I know that, I have killed before after all. Twice in the Laughing Coffin raid, once when a member tried to kill me and Asuna, and even Kayaba died by my hand. I know that just because they too were killers doesn't make it easier, but I don't think I could stand the thought of having killed an innocent person." I paused a moment considering if I should even say the rest of my thoughts before I decided to put it all out there.

"And I don't think Asuna could stand the thought of being saved by such an act either." The pause between my words and Argo's reply couldn't have been more than a few seconds but it felt like eternity.

"They won't be innocent. Some of them may not have killed before, but they'll be doing this with the same idea as you, that they will have to kill to win as well." I paused to take in her words, to truly consider what I was about to do. I knew that Asuna wouldn't want me to do it, she wouldn't want another life taken for the sake of her own, it had shaken her up enough when I'd killed Kuradeel, but even that wouldn't compare to her thoughts on me risking my own life once again.

The more I thought about it the more reasons I came up with not to do it. It was dangerous. Argo had done something weird to Agil. I'd be forced to kill again. My body was still recovering from SAO. Asuna wasn't even in immediate danger.

I could try to find a solution elsewhere. I could wait until the Japanese government helped her. But despite all of that there were two things that made the decision for me.

The sight of Asuna, my wife in that other world, wasting away on that hospital bed, her mind kept captive who knows where. And the girl beside me, desperately trying to hide the fear on her face at the thought that I might turn her down, and she'd be forced to face whatever this is on her own.

I never took the rational choice of action in the past before anyway.

"I'm in." The look of pure joy on Argo's face that she quickly tried to bury under that business facade of hers put an equal grin on my own face. "So, what now?" It was time to figure out what I was actually getting myself into, enough with the vague warnings.

"Well." Argo seemed to be juggling a few thoughts in her head, probably thoughts about where to start the explanation, it didn't take long for her to decide. "Now I tell you about the Moonlight world."

* * *

I adjusted my position in my seat as a notification went off over the plane's intercom. Looking over to the girl seated next to me I put a hand on her shoulder and began to gently shake her.

"Rin, we're starting to land." I waited a second to see the results of my efforts. No reaction, wait no, she turned over in her sleep, laying on her side now facing away from me.

"Rin." I spoke a bit louder this time and shook her a bit more. Nothing "Rin." I tried again and what they say about the third time turned out to be more than just a saying.

"Funyaa~." The girl stretched out a bit as she started to come back to the waking world. "Eh, Shirou? Are we landing soon?"

"Yeah, we're just starting to descend so I figured you'd want to be woken up."

"Ah, yeah thanks." RIn continued to shift in her seat until she was sitting in a more proper position, looking at her straight backed elegant posture it was hard to believe that she had been snoozing and stretching as she dozed just moments ago, or it would have been if not for one minor detail.

"Rin." The girl turned her head a few degrees to look at me as I called her name. "There's drool on the corner of your mouth."

"Eh?" Upon realizing what I'd said the magus began scrambling, wiping not just the corner but her entire mouth with her sleeve. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. That turned out to be a mistake as as soon as she heard me I noticed an evil glint appear in Rin's eyes.

"Oh Shirou, I just took a short nap next to you and now my face is covered in all these strange fluids. I didn't realize you were into that sort of thing." My small chuckle quickly turned into a desperate cough.

"Oi oi, you know it's just drool, and I had nothing to do with it. Don't say misleading things!" I leaned in closer and grabbed her shoulders to her as I spoke my voice barely above a whisper to try avoiding causing a scene.

"And now that I'm awake you grab me and try to hide what has happened?" Rin faked a flinch as I grabbed her turning away from me as if she'd been struck. Then suddenly she gave a sigh and her joking manner disappeared. "Archer, we've done this before. We know what we're doing."

I blinked and let go of her shoulders as I realized it was Rin's Servant that had saved me, I may have to thank her later. "What'd Archer say?"

"Just that we should be taking this more seriously." I let out another small laugh, this one hopefully Rin wouldn't make me regret.

"Despite how it looks this _is_ us taking it seriously." I spoke to the thin air around us, knowing that even if I couldn't hear her that Archer could hear me.

"A little lightheartedness is good before battles, keeps you from getting too stressed out and forgetting some important factor or piece of equipment. And if you spend every hour leading up to a fight on high alert you'll burn yourself out."

I'd learnt a lot over my time hunting Dead Apostles and Sealing Designees. "Besides what Rin said is true, we have fought in the previous Grail War, Rin was even the victor."

"Archer says she still doesn't see how we could've fought in the previous war. Hey, don't call me old!" I ignored the second part of what RIn said and chose to focus on what wouldn't earn me later retribution from the woman.

"Well while there's normally supposed to fifty years between Grail Wars this time it was only twenty, before that it was ten. And we are a bit older than we look, magecraft makes it easy to cheat." I gave a small smile towards an empty spot in the middle of the plane, where I knew Archer was standing due to my own mystical senses.

I felt a sudden small jolt in my body and it only took a second for me to realize that it was the wheels of the plane touching the ground. Rather than scrambling to get ready to leave I instead leaned further back in my seat and relaxed, it was far from my first time on a plane and I knew it was best to simply wait for others to get off first rather than get involved in the madness of people trying to leave.

"We're much better prepared than last time anyway." I looked away from where Archer was to see Rin talking. "We've got two bases of operation, in the form of the Tohsaka manor and Shirou's place, both with established bounded fields. I've got plenty of gems from the last twenty years stocked up, Shirou may not be a Servant himself but he can hold one off in a melee or even snipe them from afar. And we probably have more direct experience with the Grail Wars than any other master in the war. If we play our cards right and watch our backs, with a little luck we'll be able to actually destroy the Grail this time." I let out an annoyed huff at that.

"I still find it hard to believe that not even Excalibur was capable of fully destroying the Grail." Excalibur was one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms I knew of, the only one that exceeded it in raw power was Ea. "And if Excalibur couldn't do it than how are we supposed to destroy it this time?" Saber wasn't here this time.

While Rin, as the last Tohsaka, had become a master I myself hadn't been chosen by the Grail. And when Rin summoned she hadn't obtained the King of Knights, EMIYA, or any Servant from the fifth war. Despite using Avalon itself as a catalyst something had gone wrong, I don't know if it was because Arturia had no desire for the Grail after seeing its corruption last time, or if it was due to Angra Mainyu's interference or if it was simply because of how damaged and distorted the Grail had become since the Third War, but the fact was that the Servant we were left with wasn't Saber, and while that didn't mean we couldn't win the war, the Archer Rin had called forth lacked any raw destructive power that was anywhere close to Excalibur.

"We really can't predict our situation at the end of the war based on we have now Shirou, you should know that better than anyone." I ran my fingers through my hair at Rin's words, they were difficult to refute because of just how true they were.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the third rate magus that went on to kill the King of Heroes. But that still doesn't mean we'll be able to destroy the Grail. I just don't see us obtaining some ability or ally more powerful than Excalibur by the end of the war." The one hand in my hair became two as I ran my fingers through my whitened hair in thought and stress.

I perked up as I noticed Rin's eyes move to where her Servant should be. I turned my own vision, letting my arms drop as I did so, to notice that the aisle was clearing out. "Archer says that while she doesn't have the raw power of the King of Knights she still believes in her own power as a Servant. She thinks she'll be enough to protect both of us."

I couldn't see Rin's face but I could practically hear her smirk in her next words. "And she still can't believe you beating Gilgamesh was anything but a fluke." I gave out a snort of laughter at that. The idea of a human matching any Servant, especially one like Gilgamesh, was preposterous for good reason.

Unlike a few thousand years ago Heroic Spirits weren't being created nearly as often now as back then. There were a lot of reasons for it, the end of the Age of Gods meant no more Phantasmal Beasts to slay, wars were far less common, some magus even claimed guns were cause.

Simply put the world was more peaceful now than it had been in millennia, ever since the first humans had set foot on this land, and that meant there weren't nearly as many people with the potential to become Heroic Spirits, so the idea that a human from this age could match a Heroic Spirit from the Age of Gods was truly as unbelievable as Archer thought.

"Hmmm, I suppose it was something of a fluke." The admission didn't so much as sting my pride, it was true after all so why would it? "I mean, my own skill set is almost perfectly built to counter Gilgamesh's, and he wasn't taking me seriously for most of the fight. The only reason that I won in the end was because he didn't try to use Ea until it was too late." I stood up and opened the overhead luggage compartment as I did, grabbing both my own and Rin's bags as I did. Rin herself stood and waited for me to begin walking through the much clearer hall before following me.

"Did either of us tell you about the Master of Caster from the previous war?" I spoke to Archer despite knowing she couldn't directly reply to me, a quick shake of the head from Rin gave me my answer though.

"He was an assassin, used a strange type of martial arts emphasizing flexibility in the limbs, it was almost like fighting a horde of snakes. Saber was almost killed by him." I paused to let that sink in for Rin's Servant before continuing.

"Now, he did have some of Caster's mysteries reinforcing him, and even with that he only managed it because Saber had never fought an opponent like Kuzuki and he was able to capitalize on that to wound her. But it still means that he was skilled enough to fight on the level of a Servant despite being human. People like him and I may be extremely rare, one in a thousand or a million, but we're still out there."

"And if you were to encounter those sorts of people, well, where else would you find them but the Grail War?" I gave a small smile as I finished speaking. Archer was a stubborn and self righteous woman, but she was also smart and clever. Even if she didn't agree with me she'd remember that it might be possible. She would still be surprised if a human managed to match her, but she wouldn't be shocked into inaction.

Getting off of the plane was significantly easier than getting on. There was still a good deal of security, and the extra scrutiny meant Rin and I couldn't discuss magecraft or the Moonlight world, but we managed to get through it all without any major incidents. I was just about to bring the Grail War back up when I was attacked.

"SHIIIIIIIROU! I MISSED YOU!" A ballistic Fuji-nee slammed into my gut and despite my size and strength I felt myself stagger back a step and barely avoid falling.

"Urk, F-fuji-nee. I know it's been a while but you're starting to make a scene." I was glad for my tanned skin, despite how it made me resemble the last wars Archer, because it also hid my blush. Between her yell and the way she charged me quite a few people were looking at the three of us.

"Shirou I missed you sooooo much! The house is so empty with no one around and since Sakura-chan stopped cooking for me all I've been eating is take out!" Taiga continued grasping me as she spoke, kneeling on the ground and rubbing her face on my belly as she cried.

"Oi, oi, oi! You're making a scene Fuji-nee! And wait, was it me that you missed or my food?!" I felt something bump into me and in my surprise my grasp on the luggage in my hands slipped. I looked up from the sobbing english teacher on my waist to see Rin walking away, her luggage in one hand as she went.

"Hey! Rin! Where are you going? Come back and help me!" I called after her and tried to give chase but with Fuji-nee clinging to me I wasn't going far. Rin paused for a moment, turning her head to look at me a look of utter confusion on her face.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" After uttering that she turned back and continued on at her leisurely pace.

"Hey! Don't pretend you don't know me. Get back here. RIN! RIN!"

* * *

"So, uh, magic is real?" I followed Argo down the sidewalk as we moved. We had left the Dicey Cafe a few minutes ago, and while Argo had explained a lot there were still millions of question in my head.

"Yeah, though what I and other magus use is called magecraft. Magic is different, kind of like a higher level of magecraft. It'd be like comparing your Dual Wield skill to the one handed sword skill. One can be attained by anyone with the right attributes the other is simply impossible for almost anyone to obtain."

"Alright, so there's no way to get Asuna out with magecraft? Or at least without the Holy Grail?" The Holy Grail, that was a big thing I was hung up on, not just because it was apparently how we'd be saving Asuna but also because, as a gamer, I'd heard quite a lot about it in various pieces of fiction and to know it was real, and apparently in Japan of all places, was quite shocking.

"There probably is a way to help Aa-chan without the Grail, it's just that I don't know about it. I've been out of the loop for two years Kii-bou and I only realized that the Grail War was starting this morning. There's almost certainly another way out there, but if we wanted to research the mystery ourselves it could take years, and if we wanted to hire another to do it for us it'd take millions of yen at least and a trip to England. Plus it'd be way riskier for Aa-chan than the Grail." I blinked a few times, the answer wasn't quite as simple as I'd thought and it was taking a moment to absorb what she'd said.

"Okay then. So, the Grail War is fought with seven Masters and Servants, you were chosen as one of the seven Masters and you haven't summoned yet." I tried to review what I knew about how the War was actually fought. It was surprisingly simple.

"Yeah, the seven classes of Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. I don't know who has and hasn't summoned or even who most of the masters are."

"Most? That implies you know who some are." That could be important information.

"Yeah, see of the seven Masters three are randomly selected, I'm one of them, and four are determined by other magus, one from each of the three founding families, the Tohsaka, Makiri, Matou these days, and Einzbern. The fourth is a chosen representative of the Clock Tower, it's not impossible to find out who that is but I don't have enough political clout or contacts after being in SAO for two years to figure it out." I nodded, it made sense that, like all the other Survivors, Argo was out of the loop in her profession, even if that profession was mystical.

"What about the families?" Even if she couldn't find out who this Clock Tower had chosen the families were probably a different story.

"With the families the head is allowed to chose a representative within their family to become a Master. In the Fourth war the Einzbern actually chose a mercenary to fight and had him marry into the family. But since that war ended with the mercenary betraying the Einzbern I doubt anyone will try that again. Anyway the easiest one is Tohsaka, the current head is actually their last living member." Argo took a moment to clear her throat in a way I was very familiar with. She'd do this whenever someone bought some particularly detailed information that she would then repeat to them word for word.

"Tohsaka Rin is thirty seven years old, specializes in her families mysteries of gemcraft and the gandr curse. Her family crest contains both of these mysteries as well as others, including high level reinforcement. She was the victor of the Fifth Grail war, with the Servant Saber, a short woman with blonde hair and green eyes who wielded an invisible sword, and has spent the twenty years since then studying at the Clock Tower."

I paused for a second hoping to figure out what any of that meant before realizing that was pointless. "Err, so I guess I'm kinda a noob here aren't I?" That earned a laugh from Argo and it was good to see she wasn't too stressed about this.

"Yeah, you are aren't you? Well gemcraft is a mystery related to creating mystic code, enchanted items essentially. The Tohsaka store their prana, think MP, in gems and using that energy they create various effects. They're expensive to create in both terms of time and money but the effects they have are as powerful as you'd expect, gemcraft is one type of mystery strong enough to damage most Servants if the gems are used liberally enough." Argo turned and looked back to me as she spoke to make sure I was listening.

"Gandr on the other hand is a relatively weak curse used normally. It's finnish in origin and causes whoever is struck by it to feel nauseous and potentially start vomiting if the suffer enough. However the curse can be supercharged to become what's known as a Fin shot, these can potentially kill a normal human if hit and even against magus can be fatal with enough hits. Lastly is reinforcement, it's as simple as it sounds, just enhancing an items properties. The Tohsaka crest though focuses this on their bodies so while it's not to the level of a Servant Rin will be stronger and faster then you'd expect." I nodded at her words, that was everything that she'd mentioned before and while I still had more questions most of them could wait.

"Anything else about her I should know?"

"Yeah, her boyfriend." I blinked a few times before my thoughts on that were sorted.

"Boyfriend?" I had expected a lot of things but not a run down on her love life.

"Yeah, well, they used to be lovers, not sure where they're at now but they were both Masters in the Fifth war. Shirou Emiya is his name and he was the original Master of Saber. Now he's a freelancer that works out of Clock Tower, freelancers are essentially mercs by the way." Argo preempted my question this time.

"While he's not a first generation Magus, he was adopted by the previous Emiya and therefore is unable to use the family mysteries or inherit their crest, so there's a lot less known about him. However he's shown a unique ability in two fields, creation of temporary powerful mystic codes, mostly swords but also other bladed weapons like spears and axes or even shields, and object reading with similar weapons." That, that sounded bad for us.

"Is it possible that he could figure out a Servants identity by reading their weapons?" That was the first tactical use that came to mind when I thought of his abilities. Servant's identities were meant to be kept secret, since knowing who they were could lead you to finding their weaknesses and strengths.

"Actually some people think that's how Rin won the previous war, her and Shirou were allies, close enough that Saber willingly became Rin's Servant when her contract with Shirou was broken. That's just a theory though and I have ways around that anyway so don't worry about it." Argo casually waved off my concerns, she'd apparently already considered that, not that I was surprised, as The Rat obtaining and analyzing information was her specialty.

"The bigger concern are his abilities in combat. There's quite a lot of reports of him matching Dead Apostles in head on combat while on missions, I know you don't know what those are Ki-bou, but just know they're roughly as powerful as Servants so that makes him dangerous." I nodded at her words, we'd be talking until the Grail War ended if she told me every bit of information on the Moonlight world she knew.

"How does he fight then?" There were a lot of ways to fight with swords, and if he was an opponent we'd be facing it'd be best to know.

"Most often he's seen dual wielding twin chinese falchions or shooting his created weapons with a massive black bow. There are reports of him using guns in some missions but I doubt he'll bring any to the Grail War, they don't work on Servants unless the gun or bullet is enchanted." While everything she said was important one part stuck out to me for personal reasons.

"He's a dual wielder too?"

"Yep, two chinese falchions, one black one white. Reports say he throws them sometimes and there seems to be some kind of magnetism or attraction on them that causes them to fly weird. He can also create new ones mid fight if need be." Argo stopped walking as we got to a crosswalk asn looked to me.

"Well, as a fellow dual wielder what's your professional analysis?" It was strange to be compared to someone who used swords in real life but the physics engine in SAO was so realistic that I could probably fight the same way here as I had there if my body was stronger.

"Hmmm, well he uses falchions right? Those are much shorter than the kind of swords I use so he's probably got more problems with reach." I paused for a moment as I considered something. "How tall is he?"

"Very for a japanese, almost two meters." I nodded, that changed things.

"So not as many problems with reach as I'd expect but still needs to be cautious about overextending or he'll lose a limb. I'd bet he either fights very aggressively or defensively. Either rushing in close and using his shorter blades to score hits while the opponent is too close to attack, or staying back just far enough that he can hit them while using one blade to attack or defend. If he's good he'll switch up which one he uses for what, either to keep his opponent guessing or to use whichever is in better position, if he isn't he'll just use his off hand to guard and his primary to attack." That was what I'd done when I first got dual wield after all. In some of my earliest fights I'd actually forgotten about my second sword at times and neglected to take advantage of it.

"Alright, well Rin is almost surely the Tohsaka Master though it's possible she gave Shirou the command seals instead."

"Command seals are the things that let you summon and control Servants right?" I had heard about it before but I wanted to make sure.

"Yeah, three absolute commands. Though I say absolute but Servants can disobey if they will it strongly enough or if the command is too vague. Also some will seek revenge if they abhor the commands they were given enough." The crosswalk flicked to green and Argo, I, and everyone else who had been standing around began walking.

"As for the Matou, the main family has only three members, Shinji Matou, Sakura Matou, and Zouken Matou. Shinji was the Master of Rider in the previous war and during it lost his ability to walk, so we should expect either Zouken or Sakura. Not much is known about Sakura but Zouken is something of an open secret." Argo pauses as we turned a corner and came to a train station. Apparently we were heading to Fuyuki to deal with a few things, when I'd asked earlier Argo had merely assured me that we'd be back early enough and that it had to be taken care of there.

"Zouken is actually a few hundred years old, he uses worms as his familiars and by using them to store his soul he can survive the destruction of his body so long as he finds a new one. As far as fighting goes he tends to use his familiars for his dirty work, sending them to assault the opponent often having them burrow into their bodies and feast on their flesh to kill them." I turned a little green at her words, SAO had featured some truly disgusting and horrifying monsters but nothing on this level.

"Killing him is really hard because you have to either completely isolate his soul or destroy everyone of his familiars. I've got a way around that too so don't worry about making sure he stays dead, just killing him." I nodded at her words but something about this was starting to seem fishy.

"Hey, why do you know so much about the families and have so many counters to their abilities anyway? I know you're really good with information but that doesn't cut it here." Of the two families we talked about already Argo seemed to know everything there was to know about both, and she had already admitted to not knowing the Grail War was even occurring now until this morning.

"Hmmm, well it's actually quite simple. My family moved to Fuyuki after the Fifth war, they had desired to participate in the Grail War for a while and had hoped to be in Fuyuki when the Grail started choosing Masters. But when the war started ten years after the previous instead of fifty the current head, my father decided to move to Fuyuki secretly and simply live there in anticipation of the War starting at an unusual time again. The last war was in 2004, and my parents moved in in 2005. I was born around five years later and I've been here since."

"Ah, so the name Argo is?"

"From the Argonauts, and my real name is Arete Gikas, first name Arete surname Gikas, call me Argo though." She gave me a smile as she gave me her name, and I could only rub the back of my head in embarrassment as I realized I hadn't even known it until now.

"Kirigaya Kazuto, family name Kirigaya. Feel free to call me Kirito though." I nodded as I spoke, I was better known amoung my friends in SAO, Argo included, as Kirito already, and while I wouldn't tell my family after two years with it as my only name I felt more comfortable as Kirito than I did Kazuto.

"Hmmm, nah. I think I'll keep calling you Kii-bou~!" I let out an automatic sigh and my head fell low when I heard Argo's reply.

"Please, don't." I only fell more into despair when Argo let out a giggle instead of a proper response. I knew it was too much to hope that giving her my real name would free me from that nickname but still I hoped.

"Anyway, what about the third family, the Einzbern right?" I tried to steer the conversation back to the main topic as Argo and I stopped to wait for a train.

"Well, that one is the hardest. Not because the Einzbern aren't well known, they're actually the most famous of the families. But they're also the largest." Ah, that explained it.

"So you can't predict who will be their master?" The other two families had been relatively small, actually RIn was the only Tohsaka and Argo had said the Matou only had two viable candidates. I suppose it was too much to ask for all three to be like that though.

"No, not really. The only well known member of the Einzbern is their head Jubstacheit von Einzbern, but he's been alive since the second war. He's actually some kinda golem or homunculus and since he hasn't participated in a Grail War since the third I doubt he'll do so this time." Argo paused as a train rolled up and we boarded.

It was still too early for lunch but late enough that no one was still on their way to work or school, so there weren't many people on board. I took a seat on one of the benches, my atrophied body exhausted from standing and walking too much.

"Anyway the Einzbern in general have two specialties. Their Wishcraft and their ability to create homunculi. Wishcraft is a Sorcery Trait, a genetic mystery essentially that almost every member of their family is capable of. It's a sort of brute force magecraft, a lot like the Grail actually, where rather than complex spellwork they simply throw enough prana at the problem until everything's better." Argo gave a small shrug as if she hadn't just implied the EInzbern could accomplish anything they wanted with enough raw power.

"Well, what about homunculi? Those are those, fake human things right?" I was somewhat familiar with the name from video games.

"Yeah, the Einzbern are the world's best crafters for Homunculi. They've managed to create some with physical abilities rivaling weak Servants, and others that have so much prana that they'd beat some of the most powerful magus for reserves even with a magic crest. Of course they can't replicate the skill of a Servant and these traits drain most of the homuncli's lifespan. And they can't exactly combine these traits into one individual either, it's strength or prana not both."

"So, the Einzbern Master will probably be some family member who can brute force their magecraft. with a horde of OP homunculi, and a Servant to back them up?" I crossed my arms as I thought out loud. This stuff was starting to get confusing. It was like starting a new game just to have the tutorial throw a ton of lore and game mechanics thrown at you, and be expected to remember it all later without a chance to practice.

"It could also be a homunculus itself as the Master, in the Fifth War a Homunculus was the master, and in the Fourth a homunculus was used as a fake master to draw attention away from the real Master." Argo seemed to perk up a bit as she remembered something. "Oh yeah, the Einzbern and their creations all tend to have really white hair, red eyes, and pale skin. So watch out for those traits cuz they're a good indicator for finding Einzberns."

"Got it." I nodded as I spoke, before pausing as one last important question came to mind. "Oh, yeah, one last thing."

"Go ahead, shoot."

"How am I supposed to help you? I mean, I'm not a Master or even a Magus like you, and I'm so weak I can barely walk not to mention fight." There was a reason that it was willing and able, not just willing. I'd put my life on the line for almost every floor boss we'd fought in Aincrad, but in those at least I'd known I could make a difference.

Here it was like bringing a rear liner in to fight the floor 50 boss. Even if they knew how to fight and were willing to risk their life they couldn't accomplish anything by being there. I thought I'd be in the same situation here but one of Argo the Rat's patented smirks raised my concerns rather than alleviating them.

"You let me worry about that."

* * *

"Come in, make yourself at home." Argo spoke as we walked in the door. I bent over and untied my black boots while Argo flipped her hood down and kicked off her shoes. It was nearly two o'clock and we had just gotten to Argo's place in Fuyuki. It was a small two story home, like any other in the suburban area that she apparently lived in. Looking around the entryway it all looked completely normal, though I don't really know what I was expecting. There's no way they'd have anything strange like magic circles or ancient artifacts out in the open. There was one thing that I had been expecting that the place lacked though.

"Er, Argo?"

"Yes Ki-bou?"

"Where are your parents?" Though Argo had explained that we were going to her place I hadn't realized that we'd be there alone.

"Haaah? Is Ki-bou embarrassed to be alone with such a cute girl? Don't get any dirty thoughts Ki-bou, you have Aa-chan after all~." I couldn't help but blush at that. The thought hadn't crossed my mind, and I was faithful to Asuna, but Argo was still a girl and I was a young man.

"Seriously Argo, where are your parents? Aren't they magus like you?" As I said those words a thought crossed my mind. "Actually, why were you chosen and not either of your parents. Weren't they the ones who moved here just for the Grail after all?" All this time there had been a piece of Argo's story that didn't add up, I hadn't thought about it too much since I trusted her and the issue was minimal but with the answer staring me in the face I couldn't help but ask.

Argo herself seemed to realize that she was caught and looked away from me and rubber the back of her neck. "Well, my parents aren't around anymore." I didn't say anything, simply waited through the pause Argo took to let her continue.

"They died while we were all stuck in SAO. It was normal Magus stuff, politics. They both got killed and I was left alive part cuz Clock Tower doesn't like killing off lineages and part cuz I was comatose. Anyway I wake up from the game and realize that I'm the new head of the Gikas. So when the Grail War started it musta chose me cuz my parents were so obsessed with it and I'm their heir."

"I, I'm sorry for your loss." It was all I could say.

"Don't worry about it. Magus families tend to not be too close and people die all the time. They say that to be a magus is to walk with death, and that's not just cuz our mysteries are so dangerous." Argo turned around and began walking into the house. "C'mon, we got work to do."

I took a few quick steps to catch up to the girl's head start before slowing down to keep pace. "So, how do I fit into all this? And for that matter what can you do as a magus?" My second question got a chuckle out of Argo and I didn't know why until she explained.

"A normal magus would kill you for asking that Ki-bou. Magus are very secretive about their mysteries. But to answer your question the Gikas family has specialized in controlling information for generations. We're one of the only families who has Structural Analysis in our Magic Crest." I pretended to know what that meant.

"But our real skill is in listening bounded fields and reconnaissance familiars." Argo led me up to an ordinary looking wall before placing her hand on a portion of it and pushing in to reveal a hidden door. "And as of my parents and myself we've done a lot of research on the Grail and Servants, with our information networks finding and building on what knowledge already existed was pretty easy."

As we walked down a set of stone stairs, very out of place for a japanese home, I noticed a large number of weapons hung on the walls we passed, everything from swords and shields to whips and crossbows. "We also started to specialize in medieval weaponry, the kind of stuff you'd expect Servants to use, as a part of what we found with our research."

As Argo talked we came to the bottom of the stairs and arrived in a large spacious room. Along one wall sat a large wooden desk, a single chair in front of it, the surface covered in papers, books both open and closed, and various writing implements. The opposite wall was covered in bookshelves as tall as the room. The back was covered in various patterns and inscriptions, what looked to be runes and or magic circles.

"Now this is what I expected from a mage." I looked around the room as I spoke. Shelves of mystic tomes, walls covered in magic circles and runes, and a desk covered on notes of the magical and mysterious. I took a half step forwards before looking to the floor and noticing another magic circle. I was surprised I hadn't seen it before, not just because of its size, it covered the entirety of the floor, about three meters diameter, but also because it was giving off a soft blue glow.

"That," Argo cut in noticing my attention, "is the circle used for the Summon Servant ritual. It's supposed to be drawn a few days, a week at most, in advance to soak in ambient mana. My parents drew it when we moved in." I gave that a moment of thought before I realized what she was implying.

"Wait, that circle has been here for almost two decades?!" I didn't know much, scratch that, I didn't really know anything about how magecraft worked, but when a spell was supposed to take a few days and instead took a couple decades, well it was simple to say it'd probably affect the results.

"Yep, my mother and father didn't actually know if they were going to be chosen by the Grail, but they figured that they'd just work under the assumption that one day, one member of the Gikas family would become a Master, and then all the work would pay off." She gave a small shrug, indicating 'what can you do?' as if it was someone else's problem and not her parents life's work.

"Anyway the Summon Servant mystery is actually pretty simple, the circle and chant that are used with them just take away from the drain on the magus and help to focus the spell. The Grail itself does all the heavy lifting. So rather than giving you a ultra rare Servant from your gacha or giving your common a super stat booster the circle my family made actually changes how the Servant is summoned." Argo spun around to look at me as she spoke, and there was a glint in her eye as she said that, one that did anything but make me feel safe.

"W-what do you mean by that?" I did my best to keep my nervousness out of my voice and I knew very well that I'd failed when I saw a toothy grin explode on that Rat's face.

"You see the reason that the Gikas have been practicing with medieval weaponry is because while we were researching Heroic Spirits we came across the idea of Pseudo-Servants and Demi-Servants." My initial fear of bodily harm was abated by my sense of confusion.

"Wait, so, some kind of fake Servants? Wouldn't they be weaker than normal then?" This hadn't come up before and for some reason I think that had been by Argo's plan.

"Not really. You see Pseudo-Servants are Heroic Spirits that would normally not be able to be summoned as Servants for various reasons. Some because they weren't human to begin with, some because they weren't famous enough, others because their legends were forgotten by humans. The problem though is that a Pseudo-Servant needs a premade class container rather than one provided by the Grail, and no golem or homunculus would cut it."

"It needs to be a human, doesn't it?" I cut Argo off myself. It was obvious enough where this was going.

"Yeah, it's not like it's a human sacrifice or anything. The human and Heroic Spirit would merge together, forming a separate personality from either. And once the war ends the Heroic Spirit would leave the body returning the host to a mostly normal human."

"Mostly?" I feel like she had just brushed over something rather important.

"Anyway that was what my parents were focusing on, using Pseudo-Servants as a method to summon Servants more powerful than normal and using weapons training to make the vessel for the Servant more suitable to possession."

Argo turned away from me and began walking towards the desk at one end of the room. Not bothering to seat herself she began shuffling through papers searching for something.

"That was my original plan as well, but then I got to thinking. It started when I realized that I could use the Grail to help Asuna, and I realized that if I could convince you to help you'd be a great vessel for a Pseudo-Servant, even with your atrophied body your reaction times, battle instinct experience, and sword skills would be a huge buff to any Servant especially a Saber."

"I-I'm not all that great. I only ever fought in Aincrad, and even then almost exclusively against mobs. I doubt I'd do so well against human opponents." I could only scratch the back of my head and look down in embarrassment at Argo's sincere compliments. "Plus I was the highest level player in the game, what am I supposed to do without my stats?"

"Kirito." I looked back up to see Argo staring at me, her face dead set, the picture of seriousness. "I sincerely believe that if you had your in game abilities you could match or even surpass other Servants, and my plan for the Grail War is to give them to you."

"W-what? How?" I couldn't say I hadn't thought about it myself. The idea of having my avatar from SAO in real life, of being strong enough to lift hundreds of kilograms, fast enough to run on walls, being able to jump rooftops, of not being constrained by this weak body.

"Demi-Servants." Argo turned back to the desk behind her and grabbed journal, holding it out to me and giving me that look that said she'd had her cake and eaten it too. I grabbed it and began to look it over, theories I couldn't understand the basis of, diagrams for magic circles that I couldn't tell the difference between, and chants in languages I couldn't read. But what little I could read was shocking.

"'Demi-Servants, when a Heroic Spirit willing grants their abilities to a mortal, the mortal will gain the ability to call on the Servants skills, stats, and Noble Phantasm. The new Demi-Servant will not suffer any changes to their personality or physical characteristics. The Demi-Servant can obtain prana through the usual methods for a Servant or through their own magic circuits if the mortal was a magus before hand. It is decided that while Demi-Servants are powerful there is no human that could make use of a Servant's abilities to the same level as the Heroic Spirit themself.'" I blinked, shocked at what this was implying.

"Well, when my parents wrote this up they didn't consider the possibility of a encountering the original of a Heroic Spirit."

"Argo, I, I'm no hero. I'm just some solo player who managed to kill the final boss. I can't compare to people like Herakles or Nobunaga."

"Oh yes you are." Argo walked up and poked my in the chest as she spoke, it actually hurt too since I was still weak and she apparently was fine due to whatever magecraft she had been using to keep her body from atrophying. "You are the Black Swordsman of Aincrad, the Dual Wielder. You Soloed a Floor Boss, you beat Kayaba and freed over six thousand people, and that's not counting how many people you saved fighting PKers or Floor Bosses. You are one of a new generation of Heroic Spirits from SAO, you and Asuna and even that bastard Kayaba. And of every possible Servant I could get I want to fight alongside Servant Saber, Kirito."

I dry swallowed as she glared at me waiting for me to respond. "You, do you really think that we can do this?"

"Of course!"

I stood straight and looked Argo in the eye this time. "And, and we can save Asuna like this?" The smirk on Argo's face gave me my answer even as she started to speak.

"I give it Argo the Rat's seal of approval." I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding,

"Alright, let's do this then."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello and welcome back. Delivered exactly on time I have chapter 2 of From the Game to the Grail. I'm gonna apologize about how long last weeks AN was by making this AN really short, like, I'm almost done short.**

 **All that I really wanna cover are coming releases. Next week is gonna be a little weird for two reasons, first, I'm not gonna be in town next Saturday, so instead of posting then I'm gonna have to post Friday morning. In addition to the chapter coming early it'll be another chapter of Awakening to Battle too, something I know a lot of people want. Second is something about this story, I had chapter 3 pretty much done, then I read it over and really didn't like how there was a drastic tone shift halfway through the chapter. I tried to think of a way to fix it couldn't because despite not liking the overall feel of the chapter I loved the first half and was perfectly happy with the second half. So, thus was born chapter 2 1/2, it's only about 5k words, way too little to be a full chapter, and there isn't any real plot development, thus 2 1/2. Now don't worry, 2 1/2 won't take up a normal upload slot, I'm actually gonna post it Wednesday, so that's something to look forwards to.**

 **Alright, that's it, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.  
**

"Fuji-nee, It's fine, Rin and I are just going out to get some groceries." I held a sniffing Fujimura by the shoulders as I tried to dissuade her fears.

"You won't leave again right?" Despite being a grown woman and technically my legal guardian during my teen years Taiga still, somehow, gave the most innocent of puppy dog eyes. It almost made me feel bad for leaving her in japan to pursue my ideal.

"Rin and I are going to be staying in Fuyuki for a while, a week at least. We just need some groceries if we're going to be here that long. If I don't go pick up at least a few things I won't be able to cook dinner." It was a bad sign when the idea of food didn't make Fuji-nee perk up very much.

"Promise?" Ugh, the puppy dog eyes. How did a grown woman manage that?

"I promise."

"Fine then." The puppy dog eyes turned into a small pout, and I wondered when my self proclaimed Onee-san became a tsundere. "But you better not take too long!"

"I won't, we'll be back in time to cook dinner." I walked towards the door, opening it to see Rin standing by the roadside waiting for me. "You couldn't have helped?" The question was only a bit sarcastic, I didn't blame Rin for my problems with our former english teacher but that didn't mean she had to abandon me.

"It's your fault she's so upset with you in the first place." Rin began walking as she spoke, not waiting for me to catch up before she left. "When was the last time you visited Fuyuki anyway?" Rin knew my answer, she just wanted me to say it.

"Six, almost seven years." A few strides of my longer legs had me caught up with my companion. "You know I've been busy, and the few times I do have time to visit it's because I'm recovering from a fight with a dead apostle or something. Do you really think it's a good idea to visit when I'm puking from a poisonous death curse?"

That had been a painful experience, the curse had the power to kill an elephant in a few hours but between my magic resistance and Avalon I had been able to get off with a few weeks of painful pseudo illness, puking my guts out and barely able to walk. It was fortunate Bazzete had been on that particular mission or I don't know if I'd been able to kill the Dead Apostle after getting infected.

"No, but that doesn't mean you can get away with not visiting for the better part of a decade. Baka." Rin gave an exasperated sigh as she called me what had become her favorite nickname for me over the years.

"Alright, I'll go get the groceries, what're you gonna do?"

"I'll go check out my place, need to clean it up, make it look like I might be staying there. Also check the bounded fields. After I'll start looking around town, see if any new bounded fields have popped up." That was a good plan. People knew that Rin would be a master, as the only Tohsaka around she automatically gained the seals, and while it was possible for her to sell them off or pay a freelancer to fight for her it was well known that she had fought in the previous war and had no aversion to battle from her time helping me on my own hunts.

"Alright, after I get the groceries I'll start checking places too. I'll visit Issei at the Ryuudou Temple, maybe another Servant has camped out there again." I pulled something out of one of my pockets before handing it to Rin.

"Here, I know you don't like tech but it's just a radio earbud. Stick it in your ear and start talking while pressing this button if you need to contact me." I gestured with one hand while the other held the device, holding it out for Rin to grab.

Rid nodded as she shoved the device in one of her pockets, despite her aversion to modern devices she had used these before and knew better than to deny it out of displeasure with it. As she put the earbud in one pocket she pulled something out of another.

"Here, the enchantment will let you talk to me by speaking to the gem, and if you place it by your ear you'll be able to hear me. Just in case the mundane solution fails." I grabbed the gem she offered, a small amethyst crystal, I could smell the familiar scent of Rin's prana emanating from it.

"Alright, meet up around four?" I pocketed the gem as I spoke.

"At the church, we oughta go meet the overseer." I gave a soft grunt when she spoke. The overseer this time was mostly a ceremonial role, they'd still work to conceal the war but after Kotomine they weren't supposed to directly interfere in the war for anything short of a major risk of magecraft being revealed. Rin must have noticed my aversion to the idea of an overseer.

"Yeah, I don't like dealing with another overseer after the shit that fake priest pulled, but I'm already a known master so I can't not go meet her. I don't wanna bring Archer though since I'm not required to reveal my Servant this time though, so I want you there in case we're ambushed on the way back." I agreed with everything that she said, and I did understand the need for an overseer, it was just.

"It's just that in a lot of ways, she's worse than her father."

"Yeah, I know. But at the least we can trust she'll do her job well, if not seriously." Honestly that made me feel worse not better.

* * *

I shifted in place a bit, feeling the familiar weights on back, comfortable battle ready gloves and boots as well as a long coat draped over my body. Closing my eyes and willing it silently it all fell away, replaced by the same black winter coat I had been wearing before.

"Good, as long as you can dismiss your equipment at will you can go out disguised as a civilian. Next you need to be able to call it back quickly, in case we get attacked you need to be able to fight." I nodded at Argo's words, mulling them over as I tried to call back the weapons and armor I had just been wearing.

"Ugh, this is harder then taking it off."

"Try using an aria of some kind, some kind of self hypnosis might help you call it back." I nodded at her words, getting ready to say something cheesy like, 'Armor up' or 'Battle Form', before I paused.

Reaching my right hand forwards I held two fingers together, before dragging them down in a vertical motion. Of course no menu popped up or SFX triggered but I did feel a welcome weight settle on my shoulders.

"Well, I guess that works." Argo gave a small chuckle as she spoke. "Really Kii-bou? You need to bring the menu up for this? This is what hotkeys are supposed to be for." I gave my own grin as she spoke.

"Sorry, guess I'll have to change the key bindings later." I kept on with her analogy before clenching my hand, feeling the once familiar power in my grip and leather of my fingerless glove before, with another bout of will power, dismissing my equipment in favor of my civilian clothing.

"Practice that later, you may not get the chance to open the menu in a fight. For now we're going out." Argo turned and began walking up the stairs leading out of what she had called her workshop and I began following when a thought occurred.

"Wait, I still need to talk to my family." I started running excuses and lies through my head, trying to figure out how I was gonna convince them to let me stay in another town for around a week.

"Don't worry, I took care of it." Eh? "You're mother and sister think you're staying at a hospital out of town for some special physical therapy. It's a good excuse for why you'll be gone so long and explains why you'll be stronger than ever when you come back." It was a good story actually, and it was a big help that it was already taken care of, but there was still one problem.

"When'd you do that?" I'd been with Argo since we'd met up at the Dicey Cafe this morning, when had she had the time to go and sell a story to my family?

"This morning, after you left I stopped by your place and hypnotized your family." I ignored the ethical question of her going around hypnotizing people, accepting it as necessary and for a good cause. But that still left another question.

"But I didn't agree to help you until after we met." And while Argo was one of the smartest people I knew she showed no signs of being sure I'd accept when we talked. Argo knew she'd been called out and seemed to get embarrassed about it, a light pink dusting her cheeks.

"Actually, if you'd said no I'd planned to take you here anyway, hypnotize you and use magecraft to fix up your body. You wouldn't have been Servant strong but you would have been more than healthy." She nervously scratched her cheek as she spoke, chuckling a bit, and I felt my frown of confusion shift into a gentle smile.

"Thanks, Argo." I was beyond relieved to know I had people looking out for me, that was something that I was still getting used to since before SAO the only people I had watching my back was my family, and even then they didn't understand me the way my friends from the game did.

"It's nothing Kii-bou, it wasn't necessary in the end and after everything in the game I owe you a lot."

"You say that like I don't owe you anything. You may have charged for your information but you always made sure I had what I needed to survive."

"Hahaha, Kii-bou you're gonna make me blush talking like that." I choose not to mention that she already was blushing. "C'mon," she spoke as we came back to the ground level floor, "we need to go scouting, get you familiar with the lay of the land before night." I silently followed her to the door and began to put my boots back on before asking my questions.

"So when does this war actually start? I know it's supposed to be fought only at night but when does it actually begin?" Argo had given me the basic rundown but a lot of finer details had been missing.

"The war isn't supposed to start until all seven Servants have summoned, the overseer keeps track of what Servants have been summoned and will announce when the war starts. Normally as a proper magus I'd be expected to report to the overseer but after some trouble last war their powers have been drastically reduced. Anyway while that's when it officially starts no one will complain if Servants start fighting as soon as the first few are summoned."

"Alright, then what's the plan then? How are we gonna find the other Servants?"

"There's two main strategies I've got, I'll drop a bunch of bounded fields around town and see who passes through them. The other is using some bait and seeing what bites." I didn't like the way Argo looked at me as she said bait.

"I supposed that I'm supposed to be the bait then?"

"Well it can't be me! I'm far too fragile. I need my tough Servant Saber to protect me." I sighed at her words, I knew I was gonna be taking on the more dangerous roles but I didn't like being referred to as bait, even if it would be true.

"Oh yeah, you can see my stats right?" A quick nod gave me my answer. "Well, how do I use my, what was it? Noble Phantom?"

"Noble Phantasm." Argo corrected me subconsciously as she examined me in detail, reading words only she could see. It would have been strange to see if I hadn't seen similar looks on many using their menus in SAO. "Kirito, your stats are stupid."

"Eh?" Wait, after all that was I a weak Servant?

"I mean, your stats are really high, even for a Saber. Maybe it's because you're a Demi-Servant? Normally that wouldn't raise your stats but as the original of the Heroic Spirit you obtained there's literally no possible better vessel. Or it could be due to the fame bonus."

"Fame bonus?" That was a new term.

"Yeah, depending on how well known a Servant is in the area they are summoned they gain stats bonuses. For example, summoning King Arthur in England would make him way stronger than if he were summoned in India."

"But wait, I'm not that well known period. Why would I get a fame bonus?" The look Argo gave me told me I what she thought about that.

"You idiot. How many people in Japan do you think have heard of SAO? And your name and username may not be public but everyone knows about The Black Swordsman and The Dual Wielder. Even if the government is trying to limit information they're still talking about you on the news. Over a months after the game was cleared."

"Ah." I scratched my head suddenly feeling embarrassed, I was used to be well known among front liners in SAO, but that hadn't all been positive and it was more similar to being known as a high rank player on a scoreboard than being a famous figure. Like I was only known amoung a single group of people and unheard of outside of it.

"But what about my skills and uh, Noble Phantasms?" I was pretty sure I got it right that time and the fact that Argo didn't correct me made me more so.

"Hmmm, this is more than I expected but nothi-, Kirito?" Argo's sudden pause gave me question.

"Yes?"

"Why do you have protection from arrows?" That threw me for a loop.

"Wait what? There weren't even arrows in SAO?" Where would I have picked up a skill to counter arrows, or even any ranged attack?

"Not just that. Riding is a class skill so I get why you have it but why at C? You're magic resistance is C too and there wasn't Magic in SAO either. Presence Concealment and Detection are on here too, and while I know you had the Hiding and Searching skills maxed but to have those skills as Saber?" I didn't know much about Servant skills and stats, but that sounded weird even to me.

"Am I actually Saber? Maybe I got Assassin or something instead." It might be possible, Assassin the Servant of stealth and murder. I had killed several members of Laughing Coffin and one of my best strategies as a soloer was sneaking past groups of mobs.

"No, you're definitely Saber, but maybe." Argo trailed off as she spoke looking away from me and staring off in deep thought.

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe because, rather than being summoned into a class container then being absorbed by a human, you were transformed into a Demi-Servant by being summoned into a human you got the skills and stats of 'Heroic Spirit Kirito' instead of 'Servant Saber Kirito'." I blinked, I didn't know much about all this but from what I did understand.

"Yeah, that seems possible. So, what? I broke the skill slot limit? My stats are glitched higher?"

"Something like that. It's possible you have more Noble Phantasms than normal too. For example King Arthur as Saber might have Excalibur, but if he's Lancer he could have Rhongomyniad instead."

"Alright." That made sense. "So what Noble Phantasms do I have?" Argo nodded and looked back to me as she started to read my stats again. Everything was going well until she paused, and made a weird look. "What's wrong?"

"I can't tell what your Noble Phantasms are."

"Wait really?" This was getting ridiculous. I was starting to think Argo would've been better with a normal Servant.

"Yeah, I can see a few. Elucidator and Dark Repulser, C Rank Noble phantasms. Armaments from the Game: D rank Noble Phantasm. But there's a ton of," Argo paused for a moment, considering her words, "corrupted, text here. At least two or three more Noble Phantasms and I've got no idea what they are."

"Hmm, maybe it's because I'm unaware of them? After all my ingame items and Elucidator and Dark Repulser are all stuff I know I have, that I've already figured out how to use. So maybe I need to find out about them myself before you can start seeing them."

"Fair enough. But where the heck are you getting these other Noble Phantasms from? Is there something that you're not telling me?" Argo's gaze and tone turned accusatory and I hurriedly held out my hand and defensively.

"No, no! I've got no clue either!" I paused for a moment, crossed my arms and thought. "Maybe, I'm starting to think that clearing SAO wasn't the end for me. Maybe, even without the Grail War, things were gonna get more complicated from here." It was a weird thought, the idea that there was more in store for me in the future and that I was getting a sneak peek.

"Whatever, thinking about this isn't going to do us any good. But this is really convenient, I was wondering how I was gonna hide your prana signature. I had a few ideas but this makes it way easier. Just use presence concealment." Good idea but.

"How?" I asked the obvious question.

"It should be similar to how you'd use it in the game. Just think about it, force it to trigger and the skill will do the rest." It seemed like it should be more complicated than that but I did as she asked. It took a moment but suddenly I felt different, as if my very essence was subdued.

"Good, it worked." Argo seemed to have noticed the change as well. "It's only E rank but now no one's gonna be able to tell you're anything but a normal human unless they literally bump into you." She turned around and grabbed to door knob, at some point she had put on her shoes when I wasn't looking. "Let's head out now, we can figure the rest out as we go." I gave her a wry smile but did as she said, figuring it out as we went, was there any more gamer like attitude than that?

"Eh, I never liked tutorials anyway. Just throw some enemies my way and we'll see how it goes."

* * *

"Rin, while I am glad as the overseer that you've come to see me as a master I cannot help but think that bringing you lover to a Grail War is a mistake. Could you not have gone even a week without ravishing your boy toy?"

"Th-that's not why I brought him and you know it!"

"Have you tried that sexting thing? I hear it is popular with youngsters these days, perhaps that could satisfy your itch for at least a week or two."

"H-hey! Aren't you a nun? Should you really be talking about these kinds of things?"

"As a nun it is a part of my duties to hear confessions and aid sinners in their path towards redemption, no matter how depraved and deviant they may be." Rin began sputtering again as she tried to formulate a response and I could only hold my head in my hands and try to figure out when it all went wrong. I looked up and saw Rin red faced, whether from anger or embarrassment I don't know nor do I want to find out. Across from her stood a stone faced white haired nun.

"Caren." I called out to her as Rin continued to fail to form coherent sentences. "We should really focus on what's important here."

"And your lover's inexhaustible libido is not important? If she is forcing you into anything you can tell me, do not worry I'm sure we can solve this without getting the police involved." I did my best to keep a blush off of my face, Caren Hortensia had a vile tongue and it was made worse since everything she said had a bit of truth to it.

"It may be but the Grail War is far more important. We came here to formally tell you of Rin's Masterhood and to ask how many Servants had been summoned." I was really hoping to take care of this as quickly as possible.

"You say Rin is a Master?" I wasn't sure why Caren was acting surprised about that until I realized it was a set up. "I knew she was into some strange things but I had no idea you were being forced to participate in that kind of play."

This time I knew I had failed to keep the blush off of my face. "I suppose out of pity for your unfortunate role in bed I'll answer your question. Servant Saber was summoned several hours ago, somewhere in this city. I am unsure about who is the Master but i can confirm that as of now all seven Servants have been summoned." The blush instantly faded from my face and I heard Rin's sputtering instantly stop.

"I see, I expected most of the Servants to be summoned but all seven already?" Rin was just as surprised as I was it seemed. "Has anyone else came forth as a master?"

"Yes, the Clock Tower Representative, arrived a few days ago, though they requested I not make their name known. I have received no word from the Matou however I assume they've chosen a representative, and Jubstacheit von Einzbern sent a letter to the church saying that the Einzbern Master and Servant were in Fuyuki."

"It seems everyone is choosing to be more secretive about themselves and their Servants this time." I leaned back against the wall and considered that as I spoke. It was expected but that still meant that it would be more difficult to find information on our opponents.

"Yes Shirou, this may put a hamper on your plans to assassinate and bomb the other Masters and their places of residence. It is truly unfortunate that no one but the foolish head of the Tohsaka is willing to trust the overseer with their identities." I just gave a small sigh at the nun's words.

I couldn't completely deny my desire to use the same tactics that my father had in the Fourth War, and I didn't bother arguing with her, knowing it would just result in more taunting and teasing.

"Anything else we should know before we leave? You're not going to ask for my wish are you?" Rin spoke up, coming out of the silence she had fallen into since she stopping mumbling.

"Rin, you should know that I, of all people, am more than aware of the nature of the Grail. Anyone who would desire a wish from the Grail as it is is not someone I would act so friendly towards."

"This is your idea of being friendly?" I couldn't help but scoff at the idea, that was like calling EMIYA earnest.

"Oh yes, in fact, if I did not like the two of you so much, I'd kill you just for failing to destroy that thing last time."

* * *

"Argo." I tried getting drawing the girl's attention away from, whatever it was she was doing.

"Master."

"What?" What?

"Call me Master while we're out. I don't want anyone knowing my real name." That made sense but there was one problem.

"Argo isn't your real name. There's no reason I can't call you that."

"Tch." Did she just? Whatever.

"What are you doing anyway." I didn't turn around to look, I was watching the entrance to the alleyway, I was supposed to keep people from coming in, or at least give Argo a warning if they did.

"I'm establishing a Bounded Field." I barely even knew what that meant.

"Okay, but what does it do?"

"It's a Listening Field, that's a general term for a Bounded Field that collects and transmits information. This one, once complete, will keep track of anyone who passes through here and their prana signatures. It's really weak and doesn't do anything except for that so it'll be good for finding Servants."

"Alright but can't another magus find this thing and track it back to you?" I think she had said something like that. Something about magus being able to sense magecraft.

"The Gikas family creates the best Listening Bounded Fields in the world. I'd take it as a personal insult if it were that easy for someone to detect them." I almost turned around at the tone of her voice. It seemed there was something else beside the quality of her information that Argo took pride in.

"So, how many of these are you planning to put down? Even in one is unnoticeable I'm sure one dozen is a different story." I actually wasn't sure, but I was willing to bet so, and I was sure Argo would correct me if I was wrong.

"It depends on how close together the fields are. They give off small signals and if too many of them are too close together than the signal can get strong enough to be detected in areas." I idly thought about it as she worked, trying to come with with a suitable comparison.

"So it's kind of like air pollution? A dozen cars in the countryside won't do much, but every car in tokyo running and the air starts to get a bit stuffy."

"Yeah, that's about right." I heard Argo stand up behind me and took that as my cue to turn around. "C'mon, I gotta put a few more runes down in this area then we can move onto the next." I let Argo pass me so she could lead the way before falling into step behind her. "I wanna put down seven of these around town before we stop for the day. They give off the strongest signal the day they're placed, over time the prana signature they give off aligns closer and closer to the ley lines in the area until it's indiscernible. That'll take a few weeks but it will get weak enough that we'll be able to place three or four more tomorrow. And one or two the day after."

"Alright, what do we do after the fields are done?" I followed Argo into a new alleyway, stopping and turning around as she continued in. I heard scraping as she moved something around, probably a garbage can, so she could hide a rune behind it.

"Then we go and scope out potential battlefields. They're several places that are important for a Grail War, the docks are empty at night and make a good wide open area to fight in where no one is late at night, the bridge is a good point for ambushing enemies, especially for Archers since they can get a height and range advantage, Ryuudou temple is a center point for the ley lines so Casters have set up there before to take advantage of it."

Argo stopped for a moment as she realized she had been ranting, before continuing. "Anyways you get the point, there's a lot of important places in Fuyuki and we're gonna avoid them all."

"Wait, if they're so important why would we avoid them?"

"Cause that's where all the other Servants and Masters will go. And most of them give advantages to other classes that fight there. As a Saber class Servant you'd do best fighting in tight indoors areas, somewhere that an Archer can't use their range and a Rider can't use their mount. Where you can back a Caster into a corner or a Lancer's longer reach becomes an issue. Heck, lots of Berserkers tend to be larger than other Servants, you might be able to trap them under a low ceiling, or even drop a roof on them." That, that made a lot of sense actually.

"So what, we wanna fight in an office building?"

"That or a parking garage, the problem is getting the opponent to come in, Casters tend to be better at waiting out opponents and setting up traps. Anyway, the other problem with going to the popular areas is that it's more likely that someone will be watching them, and we want to avoid being identified until we're ready to attack. If nothing else I don't plan to willingly reveal myself as your Master."

"Though fighting to the death while you sit around doesn't sound pleasant I can see why it'd be a good idea. If no one knows they should be killing you then I don't have to be protecting you."

"Alright, done here, one more rune and we can go onto the next." I could hear Argo drag the trash can back over to cover up her work, and I was about to turn to look at her when I saw someone that caught my eye. Tall, almost two meters, tanned skin, not quite as dark as Agil but dark, white, almost bleached, hair. I did a double take and only grew more concerned when I saw a woman behind him, tall for japanese, looks younger than I knew she should, long dark black twin tails.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop." I turned around to face Argo and hurriedly walked towards her, whispering as I moved. The wide eyed look she gave me conveyed her shock at my actions. I felt my new senses, granted to me since I had become a Servant ring as I heard them talk, something about dinner and a tiger. "It's Emiya and Tohsaka, they're on the street outside." I thought we were fine till their conversation stopped all of a sudden. I'm not sure how I knew, probably that Detect Presence skill Argo mentioned, but I knew that Emiya had stopped and was looking towards the alley way. "Emiya noticed something, he's coming."

"Shit, how does he know?" As my thoughts were running a mile a minute I did absently noted that Argo had claimed her Bounded Fields were nigh undetectable yet here we were, but I filed that away as something to worry about later. I was trying to figure out where we would hide, if we ran to the other side of the alley Emiya would see us before we could make it. My eyes flew around, looking for a place when I glanced up by chance.

"Sorry about this." I grabbed Argo even as I apologized for what I was doing. As soon as I had a stable grip on her I bent down and using my new strength jumped. I just barely cleared the lower roof top and landed on it, touching down and making distance from the ledge so we wouldn't be seen.

"Wha-whoa!" I absently noted Argo's soft exclamation, honestly I was surprised I'd made the jump too, Argo hadn't been kidding about getting my in game stats. I set Argo back down and turned my attention back the the pair I had been avoiding.

"What're they doing?" I glanced to Argo as she whispered.

"Emiya's looking around the alleyway, he's sensing something but Tohsaka isn't, she doesn't seem to be doubting him though." Were Eimya's senese simply that far above a normal Magus? I had thought these two would be the easiest to deal with since we knew the most about them, I had to mentally reevaluate that assumption.

"Even if he can detect the presence of magecraft in the area there's no way he'll find the rune anytime soon. We should just go now while they're distracted." I was about to agree with her when I heard something that changed my mind.

"He's moving the trash can." That same scraping noise echoed out once again, and while I couldn't be sure it was the same can I'd bet a hundred thousand col in it.

"What?" Yeah, they'd definitely found it, Tohsaka was talking now.

"Tohsaka recognizes your rune as greek, but beyond that they've got no clue." I watched Argo, hoping for a reaction but when I noticed her eye was twitching and she was softly noticing I gave up hope. "They're talking about dispelling the rune, Emiya is doing something again." I listened to what happened next, and suddenly I was as confused as Argo.

"There was, some kind of scratching? Or maybe scraping? And then a sound like, shattering glass, and now they're acting like the rune is completely gone. That's not normal is it?" The question was rhetorical I knew it wasn't normal but I did want to know what normal was like.

"No, if the field were complete it would take at least a few hours to dispel the whole thing, as it is though it should take at least five or ten minutes for a professional field breaker to get rid of even one rune. And while Emiya is known as a lot of things he's not a field breaker." What the hell had he done then? I almost wished I had stuck around the ledge so I could've seen what Emiya had done but I'd have almost certainly been spotted if I had.

"They're leaving, I think Emiya's trying to track down more of your runes. What should we do?" Argo's eyes snapped to me as I addressed her before drifting away again as she started to think.

"I'm not sure, the fact that Emiya can sense the fields throws my whole strategy for a loop, if he or Tohsaka can figure out what they do it's possible they'll use that knowledge to set up a trap for me. I need to think over a few things."

"Well in that case I do have an idea. If Emiya can sense your magecraft then we just have to use that to our advantage."

*scene break*

"It still worries me that someone was setting up bounded fields around town." I looked over to Rin as I walked, it had taken us around ten minutes to clear out the runes in the area, after the first one I'd managed to find three more before the scent of magecraft had completely vanished.

"While it is worrying none of the runes seemed dangerous. Archer knew them, the greek runes for search, hide, detect, and messenger. It seems like it was intended to collect information and convey it." Rin waved away most of my concerns but one still remained.

"Yeah, but that means there was a master in the area recently, probably had their Servant too and they slipped away from us. I mean, the bounded field wasn't even finished, probably the only reason they didn't finish is because they saw us." I clenched the hand that was carrying a bag of groceries while the other gestured to emphasize my words.

"Yeah, that is worrying." Rin paused for a moment as she seemed to consider something. "Archer, do you think you can get a vantage point in the area and watch over things there. The Master might still be around and if we can identify them it'll be easier to take them out later." There was a short silence as the Tohsaka head listened to a response only she could hear. "Thanks."

"Archer is going to take care of it?" It was a rhetorical question.

"Yeah. What do you think the odds are she actually finds the Master?" Rin's own question was not rhetorical. I had more experience identifying targets than she.

"Close to zero. If it was a standard magus I'd say decent enough, all you have to do is look for the guy wearing an expensive suit or even robes if they're traditional enough. But this guy seems to place a lot of emphasis on staying hidden from their bounded field. I'd be shocked if they were wearing something that stuck out so much."

"We'll have to hunt down the rest of the fields tonight. I had been hoping to take Archer and set up some warning bounded fields around Ryuudou temple tonight, I don't want another Caster setting up defenses there, hard enough taking out the last one." I hadn't realized that had been Rin's plan. I had assumed we would use the same strategy from the last war, wandering around and hoping to stumble upon one of the other Masters.

"You go to Ryuudou temple, I'll take care of the bounded fields." I could see Rin perk up out of the corner of my eye without averting my gaze from the path ahead of me.

"Really? What if you get attacked by a Servant?" That was a concern but not as much as she attacked like it was.

"I'll be fine. I may not be as tough as EMIYA but after all these years I bet I'm as skilled. Plus I'm not a Master or a Servant, even if someone does want to target me it should be low on their priorities." I turned to look Rin in the face as I spoke, she still didn't look convinced. "I'll be fine, Ryuudou temple isn't that far away, if I'm attacked I'll contact you and you can send Archer to give me ranged support." That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Fine, but take my gem and that radio thingama whatsit with you. We need to be sure you can get a hold of me." I nodded, I had thought about it too but Rin had brought it up first.

"Alright, before tonight you should have Archer go around town and scope out sniping positions. I have a few recommendations but Archer's abilities and techniques, even with a bow, are inherently different from mine."

"Yeah, Archer says that much is obvious, but that your thoughts are appreciated." I nodded as we turned a corner and the Emiya household came into view. It was funny, I hadn't spent more than a few weeks at a time in Fuyuki in almost twenty years, but despite that it felt more like home than any other place in the world.

"C'mon." I picked up my pace a bit and urged Rin to follow. "I'll have to make a real feast tonight if I don't want Fuji-nee mad with me. I'll save some leftovers for Archer." Rin gave me a coy smirk at that.

"Are you sure that Taiga will let you keep leftovers?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

* * *

I walked down the street, my senses reinforced to the max, not to help me detect the signs of magecraft I was searching for, a magus's senses didn't work like that, but so that I would have the best possible chances of detecting any attack or ambush. I had already dismantled three of the fields and was looking for another.

Rin had taken her Servant and gone to Ryuudou temple to set up her Bounded Field. Nothing complex or powerful, all it did was detect high levels of expended prana within the field, the kind you would get from a Servant staying there for for more than ten or twenty minutes. That way we'd know if a Servant and Master moved in. She wouldn't even be putting that much effort into concealing the field, if it were dismantled that would be its own type of warning.

I stopped for a moment as I caught a whiff of something mystical. That in of itself was strange because the signal I had gotten before now was so weak I hadn't gotten a true scent off of them, just a sort of tingling sensation, enough to tell me something was wrong and let me track down the mystery but no information on the magus themselves.

Now though I could smell the power behind the bounded field, if only just barely. It smelled, like a back alleyway, but not the unpleasant smell of rotting trash. More like, damp, dark, and secretive.

I was well aware of course that 'secretive' was not a scent but that was just how my mystical senses worked. Sometimes the only proper description for a scent wasn't something that could be smelt.

I only knew that it was the work of the same magus as the other fields I had detected because it still gave me that same tingling. I turned and began to follow the scent, my senses tuned to overdrive.

There was no way that this magus wasn't involved in the Grail War, and while it was possible they weren't a Master themselves I doubted it, and based on the smell of their mysteries and their skill in concealment I wouldn't be surprised if they had summoned Assassin.

I paused as I walked down the street and turned to look at a building that the scent was emanating from. A five floor parking garage, not really strange, it was a good place to conceal a rune, plenty of dimly lit corners and out of the way places to hide it. I didn't pause as I walked in, the tingling on my nose got stronger as I got closer and I strained my hearing to its limits, reinforced enough that I could hear my own heartbeat.

I turned and began walking up a ramp, the rune was above me on the second floor at least. My thoughts were running, considering why this bounded field was so much stronger. Was it just a mistake? Did it have other effects? I came onto the second floor and knew it must be on the third so I continued up the ramp, careful not to let myself rush as I scanned everything around me to be sure I wasn't missing something.

I came onto the third floor and walked towards the center of the almost empty parking garage, less than half a dozen cars around. I knew something was wrong as I approached the rune.

Not because the scent was still getting stronger, powerful enough that most any magus could sense it as this range. Not because the rune was larger than normal, that was a common method to squeeze more power out of a rune.

It was because it was sitting there in the middle of the room is plain sight, the rune so large I could lay down on top of it fail to conceal it, and it was drawn in green paint fresh enough to still be drying with the can and a brush sitting next to it.

I spun around as I heard footsteps, not hurried but not hesitant either, my hands shooting out to my side as blueprints for Kanshou and Bakuya sprang to mind, ready for Tracing. Coming down from the fourth floor was a short man, a boy really, he couldn't be older than fifteen. He had a black overcoat on, leather straps and steel buckles hanging useless and undone with a black undershirt showing through.

Black fingerless gloves and black steel tipped boots, honestly if I were to use one word to describe him it would be black, even his hair and eyes were black. It made a strange sort of contrast with his pale skin.

But despite all that the thing that stood out the most were the two handles peeking out from behind his shoulders, one black the other aqua blue. The handles were hand and a half, enough space for a second hand to fit comfortably but small enough that they could be used with only one without issue, the hilts and crossguards elaborate but lacking any ornaments, and the most shocking part about them was that was all I knew. They were blades, weapons, swords, just like me, I should know every detail about these blades just from a glance and yet, nothing. I pushed a bit of prana through my circuits and tried using Structural Analysis, something that should've been unnecessary for me with swords, it accomplished nothing.

"Hey, you're Emiya Shirou right. You probably already figured it out but I'm Servant Saber." The boy began speaking, not bothering to draw his weapon yet and I decided to use it as a chance to dig for info.

"Yeah, that's me. I suppose this was all just a trap for me then? Did I really piss your Master off that badly by destroying their Bounded Fields?" The boy smiled at that, as if there was a joke I wasn't aware of.

"No, Argo doesn't take that kinda stuff personally." Did he, did he really just give away his master's name? Just like that? Despite myself my shock must've shown itself on my face because the Servant across from me noticed and commented on it.

"Argo isn't her real name, and there's not really anyway for you to connect it to her real one so I don't have to call her Master this whole war." The boy gave a soft hearted smile at that, gratitude for the smaller things shining through momentarily before his gaze hardened.

"Shirou Emiya, you're a mercenary, a killer. I don't know what you want the Grail for but I need it and you're in my way. I don't want to kill you for it but somehow I don't see this ending in a surrender."

"No, regardless of how many people I have to kill, I won't allow anyone to use the Grail." I answered the Servant's unasked question.

"I figured." Saber's hands went to the handles on his shoulders, and with a casual motion and the sound of slithering steel he drew both the blades. I took the chance, reasonably sure he wouldn't attack yet to reach into one pocket with my hand, pulling out two objects.

* * *

I tensed for a moment when Emiya reached into his pocket. I wasn't sure how to deal with it if he drew a gun, Argo had said that normal Servants were immune to mundane weapons but we weren't sure if that applied to me, and I didn't want to risk getting shot to test it. I relaxed when I saw what he pulled from his pocket, I recognized the radio earbud and it wasn't hard to guess the gem's purpose based on that.

"You can try but it won't work." I noticed the slight surprise on Emiya's face before the mercenary steeled himself. "Argo accounted for things like that, the rune over there wasn't just bait, it also hid the bounded field she put up around here." I noted the way Emiya tensed when I revealed the Bounded Field around the parking garage. It only did two things to my knowledge, intercept incoming and outgoing transmissions, both mundane and mystical, and observe whatever happened inside of it, so Argo could use more than our shared telepathic senses to observe the battle.

'It keeps normal people from approaching too, just to make sure your fight stays private.'

Yeah that was a thing, apparently by becoming Argo's Servant we had gained telepathic communications, and I was still trying to figure out how NOT to transmit my thoughts since Argo didn't explain it.

'Why would I? I mean, with all the info I'm getting from being in your head I could make a million col! Imagine what Aa-chan would pay?'

I tried very hard not to. I snapped my focus back to the upcoming battle as Emiya returned the radio and gem to his pocket. While I'd been fighting with my not so imaginary demons-'Heard that!' Emiya had been trying to contact Tohsaka, in case I had been bluffing, and had just now given up.

I tensed, leg muscles flexing, arms moving slightly causing my blades to shift. I leaned over just a bit more, a centimeter at the most. Apparently that was all the warning Emiya needed. There was a brief pause, a stillness in the environment, then I found myself within arms reach of the mercenary, both my blades slammed into his, a pair of white and black chinese falchions, just as Argo had said.

I was honestly surprised that Emiya had blocked my attack. I could feel his legs buckle and his arms shake as he fought to hold off my inhuman strength, yet despite my speed and strength he had managed to block my attack. There was a subtle shift of his swords, and before I had even thought it through I knew what was happening. He was shifting his blades, changing the angle between them to try and get my swords to slide down his, he'd force me to overextend myself and use the chance to strike, probably cut up my flanks.

I moved before thinking, taking my right foot and slamming it down in front of me, I felt the concrete crack even as I went into the air. I hit the ceiling a moment later, using my other foot to push off and come down at Emiya from above. Despite the change in circumstance there was no shock on the man's face, only focus.

I came down hard, planting both swords into the ground as Emiya rolled away, barely avoiding my attack. Twin discs of black and white flew at me and I didn't bother blocking, weaving my way between the two of them as I drew my swords from the earth, Elucidator sought Emiya's neck and was blocked by the white blade. Dark Repulser knocked the black blade high and when I saw an opening in his guard I took it.

Suddenly Elucidator was locked between both of Emiya's swords and while I was already off balance my arm was guided even further out of position, my own limb blocking me from bringing Dark Repulser to bear. I prepared to back up, disengage and recover myself before going in for another exchange, when I heard air being parted behind me.

Out of pure instinct rather than move backwards I leapt to the side, opening myself to a nick across the arm from Emiya. As I dodged away I saw the fate that would've awaited me, twin discs of black and white flew towards Emiya, the only thing stopping him from being skewered was his dismissal of whatever magecraft held the blades together in the first place.

I looked to my arm, a shallow cut just below the shoulder, whatever his blades were they had easily cut apart the black wyvern leather coat I had. I felt the prana Argo had supplied me with trickle away as moted of blue lite formed and reconstructed the coat, but beneath it I could still feel the cut bleed.

My eyes drifted back to Emiya, a normal human, or a normal magus at least, had managed to take first blood against a Servant, and I was still trying to figure out how. The obvious answer was the way his swords had flew, the strange magnetism they exhibited, but there was more than that.

He had planned this, from the moment he had thrown those two blades he had planned the entire encounter up to this point, the only place it went wrong was when I dodged to the side instead of backwards, into his blades. But how? How had he predicted how I would attack him?

'Oi, Kii-bou. Isn't it weird for a guy this experienced to have so many weak points?'

I blinked as Argo's voice entered my mind for the first time since the fight began, and I took another look at Emiya's guard. She was right, despite the skill he had just exhibited Emiya had several holes in his guard. Nothing that an amatuer would notice but after two years of nonstop fighting Argo and I were anything but amateurs. But neither was Emiya, there was no way a swordsman as skilled as him would leave such gaps on accident, and that meant they were intentional.

'Traps.' The thought was loud enough in my mind that I was sure Argo had heard it without trying.

'Then we got two options, avoid 'em or spring 'em.' I thought back to the previous exchange, the way Emiya had subtly manipulated and controlled the fight and lured me into a position that could've been fatal.

'I can't let him control the fight.' It wasn't a direct answer but it told Argo enough.

I moved my feet less than a millimeter, shifted the angle of my blades less than a degree, and squeezed my eyelids so little that I couldn't notice feel the change myself. They were all small tells, ones that I was only aware of because mobs in SAO had been programmed to give them before an attack. With some practice I could've learned to suppress them but instead I made sure they'd be present so Emiya would be aware of my attack.

I rocketed forwards, vaguely aware that there had been a period between my take off and when I crashed into Emiya but if asked I couldn't remember any of it. Despite that speed Emiya blocked my attack, not because he had a fast enough reaction speed or because he had known where the attack would occur but because I had been targeting his swords all along.

I felt a bit of admiration for the blades as we collided, after SAO I considered myself a good judge of a weapon's quality and these blades matched any blade I had seen in the game, even the two I held now.

I saw the narrowing of Emiya's eyes and the way his feet shifted, not entirely from the blows he was receiving. He knew my strategy and he was already considering ways to counter it. I gave him as little chance to think as I could, continuing to batter his weapons as I continued to marvel at their strength.

Elucidator and Dark Repulser were Noble Phantasms, Argo had claimed they weren't all that high ranking but that compared to modern spells they'd be better than anything but the most powerful mysteries, those that required immense quantities of prana or huge amounts of preparation. I found myself questioning how Emiya could use something so potent with so little prana and seemingly no preparation.

'Focus, we can figure it out later.' I realigned my thoughts with Argo's voice watching Emiya closely and his weapons closer. I made a minor adjustment in Dark Repulser's swing, changing where I would strike the white sword by the smallest of margins. I knew as soon as they made contact that I'd struck my mark.

The aqua blue blade hit the white one, pausing for a moment before the white chipped, then shattered and blue continued on. Though he seemed surprised to see his blade broken he also seemed prepared for it, he twisted his body out of the way and brought his black sword to knock Dark Repulser up and out of the way. But in exchange my own black blade cut into his shoulder. It was a deep cut and I had to force myself to not pause at the blood running down my blade's tip, I couldn't afford to lose this advantage.

Though Emiya did have a new white sword in his grip by the time I brought Dark Repulser around for another swing he couldn't reverse his momentum and I continued to push him back, towards the ramp he had entered the floor on.

Soon Emiya gained control of his retreat, moving back at steady pace but everytime that he was prepared to hold his ground again I'd shatter one of his blades. As we reached the ramp he made a move to descend but I didn't allow it, putting on a burst of speed and strength I drove him towards the adjacent ramp, driving him up a floor instead of down.

I saw his eyes narrow a bit and an entire conversation was passed between us in that one look and the blows we traded. He wanted to go down, to try and get to the bottom floor and escape the bounded field. I wouldn't let him, I was going to drive him higher and higher, corner him on the top floor. I won our nonverbal argument.

It didn't take long before we reached the fifth and final floor, we had barely paused in our slow ascent and Emiya hadn't pulled any tricks yet. I held no delusions though, I knew that the man I was fighting had more than one or two tricks up his sleeve, and when I drove him into a corner he wouldn't hesitate to use them. I tried to give him no chance.

About halfway across the fifth floor I shattered both of Emiya's blades in one attack, it had been difficult getting the timing right but I had been able to weaken my attacks enough to keep the black blade from breaking while pushing the white one to the limit. But my efforts paid off, while Emiya was capable of making new weapons there had been a bit of lag to it, and that was enough time that I should've been able to hit him, cut him open and keep him that way. However Emiya didn't seem to like that plan.

"Trace on, bullet fire." I had no time to pause and consider how I understood the english phrase, I was more focused on other things. Namely the dozen blades that suddenly starting floating in the air above Emiya. They were swords of all kinds, a european longsword, a katana, a cavalry saber, a rapier, even a Zweihander as big as me. As soon as they appeared the blades rocketed off, shooting towards me as if they weren't supposed to be melee weapons.

I felt my surroundings slow down as adrenaline and focus sped up my perception of time, I glanced from one blade to the next taking nothing more than a moment to understand their trajectory and velocity. Half of the blades would miss me entirely, too far to one side or another, probably meant to cage me in rather hit directly. Two more could be avoided by shifting by body one way or another, another pair would hit but the wounds could be ignored, that only left two to block.

As I planned my counter to Emiya's volley I noticed the magus turn around and run, not even bothering to face me as he escaped. He was sure that the flying swords would be able to slow me enough for his escape, I'd have to prove him wrong. I began sprinting after the tanned man, tilting my head to one side to avoid one blade, and pulling my shoulder back just enough to dodge another, one came and sought my gut but I knocked it out of the air with Elucidator. I ignored a blade that passed by my left leg, feeling a sharp sting as it did so but the wound was shallow and could be ignored, another similar wound appeared on my right shoulder, as Dark Repulser knocked the rapier away, destroying the thin blade in the process.

I continued to sprint after Emiya, the man was faster than an Olympic sprinter but I was a Servant and even faster. He was almost to the nearest window when I finished with his airborne blades, he was probably planning on jumping and using some kind of magecraft to survive the jump. As I began to put my superior speed to use to try and catch him another volley of a dozen blades appeared and launched. These would be easier to deal with, both because Emiya was firing without looking directly at me and because I was more well prepared.

I didn't slow as the weapons approached, waiting for the right timing, then I literally sprung into action, bending my legs and leaping into the air. As I flew I tucked myself in tight, turning onto my side and rotating my body as two blades passed close by, one scraping my cheek. As I turned back to face Emiya I started turning to land, getting ready to lash out, but my plans were put on hold when I once again saw twin discs of black and white flying at me. One slash from each of my blades deflected those but slowed me enough for Emiya to jump and escape the building. I immediately pursued.

'He's outside of my bounded field, he'll be able to call Tohsaka and her Servant for support.' As I jumped out the window, watching the mercenary I was pursuing run down the street I heard Argo once again.

'I'll chase him anyway. He's got too much information to let him escape this easily.' I noted how one of his hands went to his pocket. I couldn't tell if he pulled out the radio or the gem or both but it probably didn't matter either way. 'Should I try to use a Noble Phantasm to stop him?'

'What Noble Phantasm do you have that you know how to use anyway?' One of my eyes twitched at that, even as I ran down the street chasing Emiya, deflecting and dodging flying swords. I didn't know much about my Noble Phantasms, a side effect of my status as a Demi-Servant. All I knew about them were their names and that was only because Argo had access to my stat sheet.

'Uh, Equipment from Many Games?' It was the only Noble Phantasm I had that I could use, and even then only because of how similar it was to a Servant's ability to summon their armor and weapons.

'Yeah, cuz a throwing pick is gonna stop that sword maniac.' I would've laughed at Argo's nickname if said sword maniac wasn't trying to kill me. 'Just watch out and get ready to retreat if you need to. If Tohsaka had Caster they'd probably have gotten here by now, if she's got Archer we'll be seeing attacks soon, Assassin could be dangerous if they get a sneak attack, but you may be able to take Assassin and Emiya on at once. Other than that you'll get some warning before Tohsaka's Servant shows up so you can pull out then.' I nodded at Argo's thoughts, it was probably a bad idea to fight Emiya and another Servant at the same time but I didn't want to give up on this yet.

I dodged through one wave of swords and deflected a few of another wave before something that was definitely not a sword passed by my head, wooden shaft, iron head, feather fletchings, an arrow. My eyes snapped up to the horizon, tracking the trajectory. There, a dot of green on the horizon, atop one of the many skyscrapers in the city. Even as I found what was no doubt Servant Archer I tracked three more arrows flying towards me. Once again my mind went into overdrive, tracking the projectiles as my swords intercepted them, more arrows replacing every one I cut down. Three, then five, then eight, ten, fifteen, twenty one, I soon lost track of the arrows I had stopped. My body constantly in motion performing techniques I had no idea how I'd learned.

I don't know if it'd been thirty seconds or thirty minutes but all of a sudden I became acutely aware that at some point Emiya had stopped launching swords at me. I managed to get a moment of respite and took it to glance at the man only to notice that he hadn't stopped, just slowed down.

In his hands was a black bow, made from what I didn't know but it was as large as him and I couldn't imagine him using it to shoot an arrow. Which was convenient because rather than firing an arrow what Emiya had pressed against his bowstring was a sword.

'I was kinda kidding when I said he was a sword maniac, but damn.' I did everything I could to ignore Argo's snide remark.

Turning to block and dodge more arrows while doing my best to keep track of Emiya. I watched as he drew back the bowstring and the sword still pressed to it began to change, the blade twisting like a screw, the handguard shifting and receding, the pommel flattening out, once the string was drawn all the way back the sword no longer looked like a blade but more like some demented enormous arrow.

I couldn't make out what he said but I saw Emiya's lips move as he released the blade and in the same moment the weapon was upon me, the only thing separating it and me Elucidator's edge.

*scene break*

"Did you get him?" I lowered my bow as Rin's words entered my head through the ear piece I wore. The dust from the broken mystic code's explosion was still in the air but I could see straight through it by reinforcing my eyes.

"No, he managed to block it with his sword." I scanned through the cloud of dust trying to find the black clad swordsman. "He's gone. Probably astralized and escaped after the explosion." I allowed the bow to fade back into motes of prana as I began to rub one forearm with my opposite hand. Blocking the attacks of a Servant had taken its toll on me, even with reinforcement I had felt my muscles bruise and bones sprain. Avalon had had a tough time keeping me healed.

"She missed." I spoke off handedly. It wasn't an accusation or a criticism. Just a remark.

"You mean Archer?" Rin seemed to catch what I'd meant.

"Yeah." I nodded as I spoke, dropping my arms to my sides and walking back towards the parking garage where I'd first encountered Saber. "That first attack, Saber didn't dodge it or block it. Archer just missed." There was a pause on the other end. It wasn't that Rin wasn't trying to avoid answering or trying to search for an answer, just that she needed her Servant to explain it to her before she could relay the information to me.

"She says it was a warning shot." My eye twitched at that. Archer could've taken out or at least wounded Saber, one of the most powerful Servants in the war. But instead she had given him a warning and blown her chance at a sneak attack.

"Why?" I hoped it wasn't something stupid, I really didn't want to get sarcastic with Rin's Servant, I was doing my best to avoid acting like him, and sarcasm and jaded comments would be working in the opposite direction.

"Archer says she didn't want to attack a child, even a Servant, without warning them first." I did my best to suppress a groan but knew I'd failed.

"He was what? Fourteen or fifteen? Something like that, that would make him an adult for Archer's time period." I waved my hand in the air, despite knowing no one could see me do it. "Plus the guys probably been dead for a few centuries now. Despite what he looks like he's still not a child." The pause was almost audible as Rin listened to her Servant's response.

"Archer doesn't agree with you." I could only let out a sigh at that. I hadn't expected to change a Heroic Spirit's mind but I gave it my best shot.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go take care of the bounded field. I'll learn what I can before I dismiss it but I won't be able to talk to you until I finish with it." I paused as I walked up to the building I'd just been fighting in, not wanting to enter the bounded field until Rin and I were done talking.

"Should I send Archer to back you up? Saber might be waiting to try and ambush you again." I paused to consider that, it wasn't likely but it was definitely possible.

"No, leave her where she's at. She can watch over both you and me from there and she should notice if we start fighting again." I paused as I waited for Rin to run that by her Servant and get me a response.

"Got it, be careful. Taiga will kill me if I have to tell her you won't be cooking breakfast." I gave a small chuckle at that. The only thing more dangerous than a Servant in Fuyuki was a ravenous tiger. I took a step forward, allowing my laugh to answer Rin as I felt the magecraft wash over me, this time I could sense it as I paid closer attention. There was work to be done and the night was still young.

 **AN: Edit; 7/11/2018: The weapon Shirou fires at Kirito is NOT Caladbolg. In the original cut it was but in editing I changed it cuz that would be ridiculous, that's why the description makes it look so much like Caladbolg.**


	3. Chapter 2-1: Interlude

**AN: Here it is, chapter 2 1/2 of From the Game to the Grail, as I said it's about 5k words, no real story progression here or high stakes action of any kind, almost a casual joking chapter which is why it's its own chapter not the first chunk of chapter 3.**

 **Chapter 16 of Awakening to Battle will come out Friday morning, and in a lot of ways it's similar to this, more laid back and casual, different from this is that it's over 10k words and does have** **important** **story progression. There might be some issues with the upload for next Saturday but still a chance I'll be able to get something together so no crisis yet.**

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!" I couldn't hold my voice in as Argo pressed a cool piece of cloth, damp with antibacterial on one of the many scrapes on face.

"Shut up ya big baby. Yer supposed to be a Heroic Spirit and now yer whining about some disinfectant?" I winced not in pain but embarrassment. Argo was right but there hadn't been any pain in SAO, it was easier to ignore pain when I was fighting, it wasn't that different than ignoring hunger, or a need for sleep. But now that the fighting was over there was nothing to focus on other than pain.

"Yeah yeah, isn't there an easier way to do this though? Something with your magic?" I found it pretty strange that Argo had pulled out a first aid kit when we got back to her place, and not some enchanted item or spell.

"Magecraft, not magic. And while there are mysteries, they're not any better than just rubbing alcohol and I'd rather save the prana." There was a suspicious pause and the cheshire grin on The Rat's face wasn't a pleasant one. "Plus they aren't as painful for the subject."

"Oi!" I sprung forwards a bit in my seat but a stiff hand on my shoulder and a dab on a particularly deep cut on my forehead stilled me.

"Damn, that Emiya guy really did a number on you for a normal human." Argo swabbed a few more spots across my face before pulling away and messing with the contents of the first aid kit. "I mean, what the hell was that sword he shot at you? I never got a good look at it."

"I think calling him normal isn't exactly accurate." I crossed my arms as I thought. "But I see your point. I think it may be better to consider him an eighth Servant under Rin rather than a random magus. He wasn't as strong or fast as me but he had enough tricks and skills to keep up anyway."

"Yeah, but there's still some key differences between Emiya and an actual Servant though. For one he doesn't draw prana from a Master so we can't cut his prana supply off by killing the Master, Rin in this case I suppose. Although that also means there aren't any command seals involved, so no teleporting or sudden power boosts from them. Plus he can't do things like astralize or share his senses with anyone." Argo glanced up from the kit to look at me for a moment. "Not that you can astralize either."

"Well I do have presence concealment, that's better that Astralizing in some ways." I just shrugged as Argo criticized me. She was the one who wanted a Demi-Servant, and apparently not astralizing was a part of that package.

"Yeah." Argo dismissed my words and went back to the medical supplies. She'd probably already thought about presence concealment before I'd said it. "The biggest difference between Emiya and a Servant is the Noble Phantasm, Emiya doesn't have one, and whatever tricks he has he needs just to keep up with Servants and even if he does have something better that what we saw tonight I doubt he can match a high level Noble Phantasm." I considered Argo's words for a moment and while I agreed for the most part one thing did stand out.

"Yeah, but" I paused as I considered my words before starting to speak again. "Elucidator and Dark Repulser, they're both Noble Phantasms right?" I knew the answer but I needed to prove a point.

"Yeah, they're only C rank but the both of them are Noble Phantasms."

"Well the weapons that Emiya was using, the two chinese falchions, they stood up to my swords. I mean, I was able to break his weapons but that was only by using Arms Break." What had been an outside system skill in Aincrad had been added to my skill sheet as a Servant and I had been abusing it during the first part of my fight with Emiya to destroy his blades even as he made new ones.

"Really? That, that shouldn't be possible." Argo had stopped looking through the first aid kit to stare at me. "I mean, it's not unheard of for modern magecraft to match Servants or Noble Phantasms, but that should require a ton of preparation, something like expensive mystic codes or times consuming formal craft. Whatever Emiya was doing took less than a second or two, very little prana, and no catalysts or mystic codes."

"I thought that was abnormal." I said it off hand, I knew that I, as a Servant, was supposed to be on an entirely different level than a normal magus. The fight between me and Emiya should've been like me fighting Illfang with my stats from right before SAO ended. But for some reason it turned into me fighting another, lower level, front line player who had somehow unlocked several dozen broken skills.

"While that is worrying there's got to be a limit to what he can pull out. Even if they're as durable as Noble Phantasms they'll lack the mystical weight and powerful effects of the real deal." Argo pulled a roll of bandaged out of the kit and made her way back over to me. "We'll have to deal with that later. Emiya dismantled all my bounded fields so we'll have to resort to more basic methods of recon tomorrow night." I adjusted myself as Argo approached, to allow her to get at my face to wrap the few deeper cuts I had gotten from the explosive sword Emiya had shot. I waited for her to start wrapping me up.

And waited.

And waited.

"Er, Argo, is there a problem?" She was just, staring at me. Holding the roll of cloth bandages in her hands.

"Kii-bou. You were injured a second ago right?" I blinked, confused even more now.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Argo gave me a strange look before holding forward one hand, with small motes of blue light a hand mirror appeared in her grip. I almost asked her what happened to saving prana but the look on her face had me curious. I looked at my reflection in the mirror before feeling first shocked, then confused again.

"What happened to my wounds?" They were gone, everything from the large cut on my forehead where a chunk of steel had scraped me to the small scuffs from the shockwave of the explosion were gone.

"That's what I wanna know. Though, I do have a pretty good guess. Normal Servants can heal really really fast as long as their Master gives them enough prana but a Demi-Servant is supposed to have more human limits. I mean, you'd still be at the point where you'd heal from a broken arm overnight but cuts like this aren't supposed to vanish in minutes." Argo turned around, the mirror vanishing as quickly as it appeared and began storing the bandages she'd retrieved.

"Well I'm not gonna complain." I stood up from the chair I was in and focused for a moment. My battle outfit vanished replaced by the same outfit I'd worn to meet Argo at The Dicey Cafe this morning. "If we're not gonna go out again tonight I'll be getting some sleep." I paused as I reached the stairs leading out of Argo's basement realizing an issue. "Hey, Argo, where am I supposed to sleep?" There had been much more important issues to deal with than sleeping arrangement before now so we hadn't really gotten around to planning that out.

"Well," The blush on the girl's face and the way she fiddled with her fingers made me nervous. "You could just sleep with me?" The upturned gaze and fidgeting eyes did not help the situation.

"I-I'll just sleep on the couch, I guess." I utterly failed to keep the stuttering out of my voice and I turned back to the stairs to try to hide my blush. Even when I knew Argo was messing with me she was too good at it for me to hide my reactions.

"Hahahaha! You're too easy Kii-bou! C'mon, you can sleep in the guest room, nothing that we can do tonight that we can't deal with in the morning." Argo passed me on the stairs as I stood sputtering for a moment before pausing and letting out a sigh. I should've known staying with Argo would've been bad for my health.

* * *

"Itadakimasu!" I was barely in my seat when Taiga began to eat. I had just finished serving the food I had made for the three of us for breakfast.

"Fuji-nee, you ought to slow down a bit or you'll choke." I grabbed my own set of chopsticks and began to eat as I spoke, not bothering to look at the woman. I knew my scolding wouldn't have any effect on her.

"Nah, that's a myth, I'll be fine! Plus it's been too long since I've had your cooking, I don't think I could slow down if I wanted to!" The smile she gave as she stuffed her face was both pleasing and aggravating at the same time. I wish she'd learn some modesty.

"Ah, whatever." I shrugged it off. I hadn't been able to do much during the six years she'd been my guardian, there was no way I'd be able to change her behavior during the week or two I'd be in town for the Grail War.

I looked over to where Rin was silently eating her own food. If I hadn't known her I'd have thought she was ignoring our former english teacher, instead I knew that she was taking silent pleasure from my failed attempts to civilize the tiger.

"So, Rin, any plans today?" Rin took a moment to finish her mouthful before she responded to my question.

"Well, I was thinking of checking up on some of my old friends, Ayako should be in town too so I'll see if she's free." Rin gave a small grin as she talked about one of her few true friends on the mundane side of the world.

"Ayako-san, huh. I wonder if I should see her too. Do you mind if I tag along Rin?" I hadn't spoken to the former captain of the archery club in years and while I hadn't had much of a social life in school, being too busy with helping others and my job at first and later with practising magecraft, Ayako had been one of my small circle of friends.

"Maybe another time, we haven't spoken in a while so the two of us will probably have a little girl's talk." The smile on Rin's face looked kind and understanding but I knew from experience it was anything but.

I skillfully hid my dry swallow behind my drink. "Well, in that case I'll probably stick around here, there's a lot of maintenance that needs to be done since I haven't been here in a while." I looked over at Fuji-nee, the one who was supposed to caring for the place while I was overseas, she was still gorging herself. That was when I decided to address the elephant in the room, the one person who should've been there but wasn't.

"Fuji-nee, where's Sakura at?" Frankly it was hard to imagine my former kouhai not being here now that I was back for a while.

"Ah, Sakura-chan got sick apparently. She called me a few days ago to let me know, she says that she'll be fine soon, it's nothing serious, just that she'll be stuck at home for a while."

"She's sick? Maybe I should go over and help her out then." Some soup or porridge would be nice to help her get better.

"No." I snapped out of my thoughts as Fuji-nee leaned over the table and waved her finger at me. "Sakura explicitly stated not to let you come over. You'll just get yourself sick trying to help her and that'll cause all sorts of issues." I felt my eyebrows furrow as I opened my mouth to argue back but Rin cut me off.

"Hmm, I don't know Fujimura-san, you know what they say about idiots and colds." I could feel Rin's words dig into me. "But then again there's also that myth about giving away your could to cure it. This guy might just try to get it on purpose, just to help Sakura." The words were like a physical blow and I couldn't argue back, not when it was in my nature to aid others even at the cost of my own health.

"That settles it then. You stay away from Sakura while she's sick." I looked back over to the tiger as she spoke about the very much not settled issue. "She may be sad she can't see you, but that just means you'll have to stick around until she gets better, no matter how long that takes." I opened my mouth once again to argue but Rin beat me to it.

"That's fine, we took care of everything we needed to in London, we could be gone over a month without issue so sticking around for an extra week or so won't be a problem." I gave up with a sigh, knowing that beating one of these two was hard enough, so facing the both of them suicide.

"Fine then, I'll just fix things up around here a bit. Plenty that needs to be done and a quiet day will be good." I looked away from my food to see the clock on the wall. "Fuji-nee, don't you need to get going?" The shocked look on my self proclaimed sister's face told the whole story as she shot up.

"Ah! Oh no, I'll be late!" She jumped up and dashed to the front door, hopping in place as she put on her shoes. "See ya later Shirou, Rin!" And with those words she was off and the house was once again quiet for a time.

* * *

I stirred the cup of food in front of me for a moment before grabbing a clump of noodles with my chopsticks and raising them to my mouth, bleary blinking the drowsiness out of my eyes as I stifled a yawn with chewing. I gazed across the table at Argo who looked as tired as I felt, her hair messier than usual and eyes half closed.

I went back to my food for a moment raising more noodles to my mouth before slurping them up. I paused for a moment before I swallowed and looked back at my cup. Setting down my chopsticks I raised it to my mouth and gulped down the remaining broth. I paused for a moment as I looked at the bottom of the plastic container before I decided to say something.

"Argo."

"Yes Kirito?" The girl's eyes opened a bit more as she stared me in the eye.

"You need to go grocery shopping." The two of shared a look for a moment before simultaneously looking down the containers of cup ramen in front of us.

"Will you go with me?" There was a desperate plea in Argo's voice, one that I couldn't refuse.

"Sure."

* * *

I stood up, a rag in one hand and the other wiping the sweat off of my brow as I stared across the dojo. When I got here it'd been coated in a fine layer of dust and dirtied from disuse, now the entire dojo was sparkling. I nodded to myself, feeling a small amount of satisfaction at a job well done.

I looked out the window, noting the angle that the sunlight was coming in at and decided that it must have been a little after ten or so right now. Taiga hadn't had time to grab a bento before she'd left for work, maybe I should drop by and give her one?

I nodded to myself, a plan set as I picked up the bucket of water I'd been using to clean and went towards the house. It was time to do a bit of cooking.

* * *

"Errr, Ki-bou, what exactly do we need to get?" Argo glanced over to me as we stood in front of a shelf of various packaged foodstuffs and products.

"Shouldn't we have figured that out before we left your house?" I asked her with a bit of incredulity to my tone but honestly I couldn't really blame her, I hadn't thought about it either.

"It's not like I've done this before, I don't even know how to cook anything more complex than curry." Argo waved off my question like it was nothing.

"Well, I'm no chef either so I guess we just grab the basics and hope we don't poison ourselves." I shrugged it off and looked across the shelf for curry powder before noticing at least a dozen different kinds of the stuff. "Uh, which one do we get?"

Argo took a step forward and glanced the food, stroking her chin in thought. "Well, how about, eenie, meenie, minie, this one!" The girl grabbed a random box and tossed it into the basket I was carrying before walking away. "Rice is next then!" I turned after her stunned for a moment before taking a few larger steps to catch up to her.

"Yeah, rice next. Then for curry it'd be, potatoes, carrots, and, uh. What else goes in curry?" The dead look Argo was giving me said that I was definitely missing a few things.

"Ki-bou, you've gotta treat Aa-chan right. You wouldn't last a week without her." The dead look and serious tone she used weren't hampered at all by the funny nicknames she loved to use.

"Hey, I could probably make it a month, cup ramens a thing!" The indignation in my voice was real and strong this time.

"I take it back, it'd be a miracle if you lasted a day." I tried as hard as I could to look offended but I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

* * *

"So, how are things going in London?" Ayako spoke as we walked away from her house. She'd been eating breakfast with her family when I'd shown up and while they'd offered me a place at the table I simply told them I'd already eaten.

"Good, I've got a teaching position these days in addition to my research." That had happened a couple of years ago actually, the Tohsaka name carried a bit of weight to it even when I'd first arrived and my own achievements plus those of my apprentice, Shirou, had won me some clout. "It's not a major one but if I do it right it'll lead to bigger things."

"That's good, you're a hard worker and extremely skilled. You'll become very important wherever you go eventually." Ayako paused for a moment as she looked across the rows of houses we passed. Despite being gone for so long so little seemed to have changed here.

"How's your archery?" I felt the Servant in the back of my mind perk up at the mention of her specialization.

"Good, I'll be taking my sixth Dan exam in a few months actually. I've been practicing at Homurahara while I'm in town and I was actually talking with Fujimura-sensei about visiting the range during practise to talk to the club and maybe do a demonstration." Ayako noticeably perked up a bit as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, Shirou's in town too right? Do you think he'd be willing to come as well?"

"You'd have to talk him into that one, not me. He's never been interested in showing off." I brushed away her question as I spoke waving my hand. I had a lot of power of that idiot but Ayako would probably enjoy talking him into it anyway and almost certainly succeed.

"Hmm, alright then. I'll have to come over sometime to talk to him."

"Why not come over for dinner tonight then? I'm sure Shirou won't mind and that way Fujimura-san will be there to help talk him into it too."

"Ah, that's a great idea!" Ayako gave me a full smile as she responded. "I'll look forward to it then." Ayako paused in between her sentences and her grin became predatory. "So, speaking of Shirou have you two decided on a date yet?" I couldn't keep the blush off my face at the sudden topic change and I knew if Shirou were here the idiot would say something about tsunderes under his breath like I couldn't hear him, the idiot.

"W-we're not getting married yet!" If anything my friend's smile became more predatory.

"Yet?"

* * *

"Argo, I thought we went out so that we could get some real food for dinner."

"Well yeah, that was the idea." Argo attempted to casually waved off my concerns as she spoke but in my eyes she failed.

"So how did we end up at McDonalds?" I looked at the food in front of me, greasy salted fries, hot burger with supposedly beef cheese and various vegetables on it, and an unrealistically large soda that was supposed to be a medium, food that was, while tasty, definitely not real.

"It's fine Kii-bou. This is lunch!" Argo grabbed a couple of her own fries as she spoke and began to toss them into her mouth once she finished.

"Ah, I see then." I nodded as if I had bestowed some great wisdom before grabbing my burger and taking a bite.

* * *

"Aaaaah, thank you Shirou! I thought I was gonna have to eat bread from the cafeteria!" I did my best to calm a frantic Taiga-nee as she bawled her eyes out over the bento I had brought to the teacher's break room.

"It's fine, I finished cleaning up sooner than expected and I thought you'd appreciate it." I gave the woman a small grin as I ate from my own lunch. I thought it'd be nicer to eat with Taiga than by myself and Rin said she wouldn't be back until dinner. "While I'm here though do you have any requests for dinner? Rin and I went shopping yesterday but I could pick something up on our way home." I knew I was spoiling her but I didn't mind it and it wasn't as if I was going to be around long.

"Hamburger!" The shine in Taiga's eyes as she leaned forward and proclaimed her desires made me truly question her age. In the end I did nothing more than shake my head and sigh.

"Alright, hamburger it is. I'll grab the beef on the way home but we should have everything else." I looked down to my lunch to see that I'd finished it when I wasn't thinking about it. I looked across the table to see Taiga in a similar circumstance. I began to pack up my box before grabbing Taiga's as well. "I'll leave now then, see you tonight."

"Alright, see ya Shirou!" Taiga waved me off with a content look on her face and I couldn't help the grin that came to my face.

* * *

I looked at the chopping board in front of me, various vegetables in different sized pieces on it. "I think I'm done chopping these up, they look right at least." Argo looked over at me from where she was working with the rice and meat.

"Yeah that looks good, go ahead and throw it all in the pan." I nodded and picked up the wooden cutting board, moving over to the stove.

"Did it all without cutting myself even once." I allowed myself a bit of gloating, using a knife to prepare food was very different from using a sword to fight. I heard Argo scoff at my words and knew that she wasn't going to let me have my small victory.

"Only because you can't cut yourself with that knife. You're a Servant, it'd take alot more than a dull kitchen knife to hurt you." Argo gave a small shudder I saw out of the corner of my eye. "That must be weird feeling." I gave a small chuckle at her words as the veggies were poured into the pan alongside the already cooking meat.

"It's not as weird as you'd think, or at least it shouldn't be to either of us. It's not all that different from trying to cut yourself in a safe zone." Despite not looking at her I knew Argo well enough to imagine the look of understanding come over her face.

"Hmm, interesting. Actually I wonder how far your resistance goes, a normal Servant couldn't be hurt by anything without some kind of mystical weight, no matter what, so a reinforced stick, could, in theory, hurt a Servant, but a bullet would do nothing."

"That sounds cool and all, but if this conversation ends with me getting shot in the foot for science than I'm out."

"Nyahahaha! Then it's all fine. After all you won't be shot for science." I almost let a sigh of relief out at that but held it in, Argo seemed too pleased with herself for it to be that easy. "You'll be shot for the sake of magecraft!"

"That might sound cooler to you, but to me it's no better."

* * *

"I'm home." I heard an expected voice come from the entrance as I moved about the kitchen busily but calmly, working on the dinner Taiga had requested, the woman who was sitting in the dining room with a bottle of sake right now.

"Pardon the intrusion!" That, though had not been an expected voice. I turned down the gas on the stove and made my way towards the front door to greet my unplanned but certainly not unwelcome guest.

"Welcome back Rin, it's good to see you again Mitsuzuri-san." I gave the two women a smile. I hadn't seen Mitsuzuri in years, not because neither of us visited Fuyuki since we left the town, but that our visits had never lined up and neither of us had planned to be here at the same time.

"Don't call me Mitsuzuri, we're friends Shirou, call me Ayako-chan." I gave the woman a smile and a small concession.

"Alright Ayako, I wasn't expecting to have any guests but there should be more than enough food, I always make extra for Taiga-nee."

"Hehehe, sorry about that, I hope it's not a problem." I gave the sheepish looking girl a smile.

"Of course not, I'm always happy to cook for anyone that's willing to eat."

"C'mon, Ayako, odds are Fujimura is already sitting at the dining table, you can talk to her while Shirou gets the food ready." Ayako looked away from me to glance at Rin as she spoke.

"You sure that's fine?"

"Don't worry about it, the foods almost done and I enjoy cooking. Go see Taiga while I finish up, I'll bring the food out in a few minutes." I gave my old friend from high school a smile and turned back to the kitchen, intent on giving the hamburgers the finishing touches.

It was a few minutes later that I walked into the dining room carrying several plates of hamburger steaks and cooked vegetables. Taiga and Ayako were animatedly having a discussion about the archery club while Rin sat to the side drinking her tea while giving the occasional comment.

"Yeah, some of the new students are pretty promising actually! Though, a few of them are getting a little cocky." Taiga stopped speaking as I walked in, eyes focused on the plates I carried.

"Well, if it's about them getting cocky we've got the perfect solution right here." I felt Ayako's eyes lock on me as well and unlike Taiga I didn't think she was focused on the problem of food.

"Is there something I can help with?" Even after all these years I was still the fake janitor at heart.

"Yeah!" Taiga spoke up, her eyes not leaving the food as I set a plate in front of her. "Ayako was gonna come in and do a demonstration for the Archery club, and she thought it'd be a good idea if you came too." I winced internally and did my best to keep it off my expression. I had never liked showing off.

"I don't know, I don't have a bow these days, haven't needed to own one since high school." I could create one with but a thought and a bit of prana after all, so why keep one around?

"You can just borrow the club's equipment. In fact I might do the same, better to show the kids using their stuff rather than the expensive stuff I use these days." Ayako waved off my denial casually as I gave her her food.

"Well I haven't practised Kyudo since I quit the club. I don't think you want to show off some rusty old guy to the students." I placed a plate in front of Rin and began to walk to my own seat afterwards pausing in my tracks as the Tohsaka head spoke up.

"Shirou, are you telling me, that if you went to the range right now and fired a dozen arrows, any of them would go anywhere but where you wanted them?" I didn't even bother to conceal my wince as Rin spoke up, she knew that while I hadn't practiced kyudo in over two decades and I hadn't practised japanese style archery in the same period of time if anything I'd gotten better since then. If she wanted me to do this than resistance was futile. I gave a sigh as I sat down and grabbed my chopsticks.

"When do you want me at school?" The smile of victory on Ayako's face was a pleasant one, it didn't rub in my defeat but made me feel like losing wasn't so bad.

"The day after tomorrow, after classes are over. Same time as when we used to have practice." I nodded committing the time and date to memory, before I paused and realized something. I gave an apologetic grin and looked over to the Archery Club's advisor.

"Ah, sorry then Fuji-nee. If it's that late in the afternoon I won't have time to cook dinner that day." Taiga attention shot from the food in front of her to me fear evident on her expression.

"What?! No! I mean, maybe you shouldn't go after all?" Taiga's eyes kept shifting from me to Ayako searching the both of us for a way out.

"Sorry Fuji-nee, I already promised Ayako I'd be there. Besides it's for the good of your students." The teacher gave one last look to Ayako, who simply turned away and started giggling, before she looked down to her food again, mumbling softly as she sulked over her meal.


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: I'm gonna have to start by apologizing that this chapter is 3 days late, especially since I just said in my last post that there was no reason for this chapter not to be done on time. And really, there isn't any good reason. I procrastinated too much on getting started and then realized Friday that there was no way I was doing this whole thing in one day. I am at least glad that despite the delay it was only three days and not three weeks or three months. I'm getting into the habit of updating regularly and it's a habit I very much want to continue.**

 **This chapter deals almost entirely with night two of the story and it's a little short because of that, coming in at just under 9k words. That's mainly because I didn't want the bulk of the events of day 3 included and the events of day 2 were in chapter 2 1/2.**

 **There have been some questions asked in reviews about what people see as errors I might have made. Some deal with the magecraft system and there's two things I can say about that, first is that I've done a ton of research and had all my stuff checked by someone who did even more, so the odds of a real error making it's way through are pretty low. Second is that the** **information** **we do get and the systems themselves are so vague and theoretical that a lot of different stuff is possible, the question is just how likely it is. The main stuff I'm getting is about Argo's magecraft, probably since that's all stuff I came up with on my own. Keep in mind that her** **lineage** **is actually pretty old, and as far as her information based magecraft goes it is very well researched and has had generations of magus to make sure it's all up to snuff.**

 **Now I refuse to allow my next post to be delayed because I was late on this one so the next update will come this Saturday and it'll be chapter 4 of this story. The reason I'm doing two chapters of this in a row is pretty simple, I want to. That sounds selfish and mean, but honestly I write far better when I want to write and right now I'm invested in this story and want to progress it significantly. Plus this story is really starting to pick up pace since after chapter 2 we got done with all the** **introductory** **nonsense and now we can seriously progress the plot.**

I wandered down the street, not bothering to even attempt to conceal myself and wondered, not for the first time, if this was really a good idea.

'I told you Kii-bou, we need more intel on the enemy Servants, and since I can't just run around placing bounded fields the best way to do that is with a bit of scouting.'

I resisted the urge to sigh as I kept walking, not wanting to let my guard down for even a moment. 'I agree with that, I'm just not sure wandering around the streets waiting for someone to attack me is the best way to do that.'

'You worry too much. You're Saber, you've got the stats to survive an engagement with a Berserker or Lancer, the reactions to take on Archer and Assassin, and the Magic Resistance to take on Caster, a perfect all rounder!'

'Yeah, and what do I do if Rider comes around the corner in a chariot trying to splatter me?'

'Eh, you're durable.' I could HEAR her damn shrug. It would've pissed me off a lot more if I knew she wasn't right. 'Just make sure not to use your Noble Phantasms much, there's no point to scouting if you give away more information that you get.'

'Yeah, that might be an issue if I had any idea how to use my Noble Phantasms.' All our experimenting yesterday and today had yielded nothing, it was kind of unsettling too, and not just because it put me at a disadvantage compared to the other Servants.

It meant that SAO wasn't the end for me, after all I had no issues using Dark Repulser and Elucidator. So the other Noble Phantasms I had weren't from SAO but some other battles I hadn't faced yet. It meant that rather than going to college getting a job and settling down with Asuna there was more chaos and danger ahead for me. The most worrying part was that despite the fear I felt for myself and those around me I also felt something else.

Excitement, joy at the prospect of battles ahead. It was something I'd noticed in the weeks since SAO, that without the threat of death hanging over me and the knowledge that my actions had power behind them life seemed, duller.

'You're thinking too much Kii-bou.' I blinked as a voice not my own entered my thoughts. I wasn't sure ow much Argo had heard, I was still working on separating what I did and didn't want to transmit, but it seemed like too much to me. 'SAO is over and whatever happens next happens. But right now we've got a war to fight, focus on that. You were never smart enough to think that far ahead.'

I couldn't help a small chuckle leaking out, despite the not so subtle insult. 'Thanks Argo, thinking ahead is what you're here for, if I learned to plan anything out further than the next fight I don't know what you'd be good for.' I could sense Argo pausing as she took in a mental breath and prepared to respond, however I put her out of mind and I spun around and drew Elucidator and Dark Repulsor.

Argo must have sensed my reaction. 'What's going on?'

'I sense something, it just popped up, and it's a little weak, but it's still quite a ways away.' Sensing Servants was a little weird for me, it was a lot like sensing enemies in SAO, little blips on a radar that got stronger based on how close I was and how powerful they were. The difference was that in SAO the radar would be a part of my hud, now it was something I could simply feel, stuck in my head.

'If it's that weak then it's either Assassin or an astralized Servant. Careful though, if it's an astralized Servant and they're showing up this far away they're probably pretty strong.' I nodded, knowing that though the motion wouldn't be sent to Argo the intent would.

'But would I even notice it if it was Assassin?' While I may have Presence Detection the Presence Concealment of an Assassin Class Servant should be much higher.

'Not unless they want you to find them, or their Presence Concealment is that low. Either would be pretty bad.' I blinked confused.

'I can see how the first one would be bad, it'd be a pretty obvious trap after all, but why would Assassin having low Presence Concealment be bad for us?'

'Because there's no such thing as a weak Servant.' I paused in my movements, the pieces falling into place. 'If an Assassin has low Presence Concealment then they must have some other ability to make up for it, and at least with Presence Concealment we know what we're dealing with.' That I could agree with, an unknown factor was one of the most dangerous things we'd faced in Aincrad, it wasn't difficulty that had cost a life against the first floor boss after all.

I kept moving down the street, I was getting close now, the signature I had detected only a couple of blocks away. I paused at the next corner, pressing my body against one of the buildings and holding my blades low. Once I rounded it I'd be able to see whatever I'd detected. For the first time tonight Argo had gone quiet, probably to allow me to focus.

I took a deep breath leaned around the side of the building, trying to spot my target. 'Something is there.' It wasn't a feeling, or something even slightly vague like my Presence Detection. I knew this to be true, someone was there though I couldn't see them. The moment I turned that corner and looked I knew that something was standing right there.

'They must be astralized then, Servants have the ability to detect other astralized Servants when in close proximity.' Argo paused there, and I would have questioned her but I could feel her thinking through our bond. I didn't know her thoughts specifically, just that she was thinking. 'I guess, you just gotta go introduce yourself.'

'What?'That was her brilliant plan for first contact? Go say hi to the ancient hero that wanted to kill me?

'Well since the Servant is astralized there's not much you can do, theoretically you could wound him if you hit him, the mystical weight of your blades would interfere with the thaumaturgy keeping them astralized. But what are the odds you actually hit when you can't truly see your target?'

I nodded, consenting to give Argo that point. I knew where the Servant was, yes, but I didn't know what part of what I sensed was their head, or their arm or their foot. I only knew that they were there, it was like there was a pile of mist in the middle of the road, I couldn't see anything inside of it but I knew the Servant was somewhere in there. That still didn't mean I agreed walking up and saying hi was a great plan either though.

'But a failed sneak attack would give me a bigger advantage than an up front assault.' If I missed my first attack it would be enough to at least put my opponent on the defensive even if I didn't make contact, I'd be giving that and any other advantage I could get if I actually hit, up if I simply revealed myself.

'But if you introduce yourself and try to start a conversation you might get some information out of the Servant.' Argo paused here and I could feel her shrinking in on herself, and crossing her arms, little ticks she used whenever she got worried about something. 'And besides, you might be able to get an alliance.' I paused at that and blinked a few times.

'An alliance? But only one team can win the Grail, from what you told me the only time that Masters form alliances in these wars is if one of the Servants is too powerful or dangerous, or if there's a threat to the secret of magecraft.' It was far too early in the war for a threat to the secret of magecraft, and if there was one we would probably have noticed it by now. Those things tend to be the kind of problems that are noticeable, hence why they risk revealing magecraft. And the only enemy we had encountered so far was, 'Argo. Are you that worried about Emiya and Tohsaka.' I could feel her flinch this time, I must be getting better at picking things up through this link.

'He matched you in a fight. True, there were a few tricks involved and it's not impossible for a modern magus to do but he did it so easily, without any advanced magecraft or prepared mysteries. Not only should that not be possible it doesn't match what my parents found out about him. He's supposed to be a third rate magus, someone with few mysteries he can even use and only able to operate as such an effective freelancer because of his high level reinforcement and skill.' I nodded, that had matched what I'd been told earlier, the only thing missing were his swords.

'His swords are supposed to be a variation of the basic physical mystery Gradation Air, and while that may be enough to let him fight rogue magus or Dead Apostles, that shouldn't be enough to match a Noble Phantasm.' I nodded understanding her concerns.

Argo had always relied on her information and done her best to make sure it was accurate in SAO, and it was rarely wrong. But when something was wrong things got dangerous. Illfang had been the first example and that had ended with a dead player and me ostracized from the front lines, and while that wasn't Argo's fault since it had simply been something Kayaba had changed neither was this, where she was completely reliant on her parents and their information. That didn't change the danger we might face due to a lack of information though, and Argo wanted a way to mitigate that danger.

'I'll talk to the Servant, I can't promise things will go well, but if they're at least informed of how dangerous Emiya is they might take him out on their own.' I felt a wave of relief flow through Argo as I stepped around the corner, sheathing my swords and lowering my Presence Concealment as I did.

"Can you come out? I'd only like to talk." I spoke aloud, in a tone just under a yell, trying to be amicable.

In the very spot where I knew they'd be a Servant began materializing. Particles of light coalesced for a moment, swirling around their form before dispersing into the air. The man, if that was even an accurate term for them, that was revealed was enormous. They were bent and hunched over but if he stood straight he would've been around three meters tall and his entire body was toned muscle. Scars ran over every part of their bare torso and arms and their skin was dark tanned. He wore a flowing red cloth around their waist, the thing large enough cover his legs except for the three points where it split. Ho wore little armor on his body and I couldn't help but think about how ineffective it looked. Bands of iron around each arm, two on the right three on the left, and a massive piece of metal encaging their lower ribs, a huge chain hanging off of the front.

Above all of that three things stood out the most, his weapons, two massive poleaxes, each taller than him with huge rounded blades as big as me and meter long spikes on the top. Attached to his ankle by a piece of iron was a chain leading to an iron ball the size of my head, I wasn't sure if the metal was enchanted so it couldn't be removed or if the man simply didn't care about it. Looking at the size of him either was viable. He last and most notable feature was his head, the whole thing was encaged in an iron mask with bull horns and a gold nose ring, and out the back came flowing a mane of white hair.

His class seemed obvious to me, there was no way such a being could be anything other than Berserker. I felt my body tense as I prepared to defend myself.

"What does... little man...want?" I blinked and paused for a moment as I heard him talk. Maybe he wasn't Berserker? Or, based on the way he spoke, maybe he wasn't so mad as to be truly insane. It didn't matter, what mattered was that he could be reasoned with.

"I'm Servant Saber. My Master asked me to find other Servants and Masters and tell about a," I paused searching for the right word, "anomaly." I settled on. "One of the Masters, Tohsaka Rin, Master of Archer, brought another magus to the Grail War, Emiya Shirou." I paused to see if the Servant was following, or if he was too insane to understand.

"Why does... that matter." The man's words were loud, simply by virtue of his size, but he spoke in a quiet tone.

"Emiya is capable of fighting against Servants. He managed to hold me off long enough for Archer to come and aid him. And his weapons were able to match Noble Phantasms." I paused and waited for a reply. I wasn't sure if he was simply a slow talker or if he was communicating with his Master.

'Maybe you just...weak Servant." I felt my pride jostled a bit at that but it wasn't much, what I felt more was a worry that he might be right. I still had doubts that I could match a legendary hero and the fight with Emiya hadn't done much to lessen those doubts. I shook it off though and pushed on with false confidence, I had learned how to fake that quite well in Aincrad.

"There is no such thing as a weak Servant." I mimicked Argo's words from earlier, if I simply tried to assert that I was strong it might lead to a fight if he asked me to prove it.

'I... see..." The giant shifted, one of his blades scraping the pavement and creating a small gash as he moved. He didn't seem to notice. "What...now? You tell me... about strong human already."

"My Master was hoping to form an alliance to defeat them. Between Emiya and Archer it is almost accurate to say that Tohsaka has two Servants, and this would be the best way to beat them." I left it open after that. The Servant would have to communicate with their Master, and reaching even an early decision would take time.

"Master says... Shirou won't be problem." I opened my mouth, to ask them to reconsider, when I was interrupted. "Master says... kill little man." I flinched at that, one foot sliding back to get into a better position for battle as my hands flew to the hilts over my shoulder. "I am... Berserker." Berserker leaned further forwards, both of his axes spread out to his sides. Before in one swift motion he charged with a yell. "Uooo!"

* * *

'Master. Two Servants are fighting.' My attention snapped away from Shirou next to me to the skyscraper that Archer was perched on. 'Who where?'

"What's going on?" Shirou noticed that something was wrong. He probably realized I was talking to Archer, and from the way his hands were flexing he probably knew that something had to deal with battle.

'It is Saber and what looks to be Berserker. They are fighting in the streets of the residential area.' I looked in the appropriate direction, back on the other side of the bridge we were on. We had come here to do things, trap the bridge since it would make a good ambush point for taking on enemy Servants, and to ensure that no one else had trapped it.

"Saber and Berserker are fighting." I answered Shirou, and he turned to look the way I was.

'Shall I intervene Master?' Archer spoke in my mind once again. Even as I overlapped my own vision with hers, taking sight of the battle.

"No, we'll let them fight it out." I spoke aloud, so that Shirou would hear as well and know what was going on. "If things become too lopsided we may want to take out the stronger Servant but for now things are balanced enough." Or at least as balanced as things could get when facing a Berserker. Saber hadn't been hit yet, managing to dodge or deflect any attacks, but a single hit from Berserker could be devastating.

"I should get in a position to snipe too." Shirou spoke up and I refocused on my own vision to glance at him. He was looking at the top of the bridge, the center and highest point of the arc that went over top of it.

"That's a good idea." I spoke aloud to Shirou before going back to my thoughts and Servant. 'Archer, we're going to move to a location that will allow Shirou to attack. When we get into position I'll tell you where we are.' I nodded to Shirou and he began moving towards some a set of rungs inlaid into the metal of the bridge when we were interrupted.

"I have gone through all this effort to find you, I would rather you not leave before we got the chance to talk." I flinched and whirled around, prana beginning to flow through the crest in my arm. But even as fast as I was Shirou was faster. He was already in front of me, twin swords in hand.

"Come now, calm down some. I am not here to kill you yet." I narrowed my eyes at the words, they showed that this man desired us dead but for the time being wasn't going to do anything about it. I'd dealt with enough politics in Clock Tower to have been in similar situations before.

I looked the man over well, he wore simple clothing, robes of brown and simple handmade shoes. He was brown skinned and his face was blemished with darker spots, the signs of spending long days working in the beating sun. He was an older man and looked it too, a large bushy beard, every hair pure white, and atop his head sat a turban.

"I apologize, you simply startled us. After all anyone in the middle of a war anyone would be startled by someone sneaking up on them." I felt myself fall into a much kinder, more accepting, and extremely fake persona as I spoke. Hoping to use an amicable attitude to draw information out of the man and potentially get him to lower his guard enough for Shirou to kill him.

"Yes, it is perfectly natural. Why you'd have to be a fool to let your guard down at a time like this."The man looked over to Shirou and rose an eyebrow. I glanced at him for a moment to see he hadn't moved from his earlier position.

I tapped my hand on my leg just loud enough that I knew the idiot could hear it with his reinforcement. There was a pause before Shirou slid back into a more neutral stance, back straight, arms to the side, less like he was getting ready to cut someone's head off more like he was ready to defend himself. But he still held his blades, it seemed to be enough for the other man.

"Well then, I am here in service to my master, to ask you heathens what your wish for the Grail is." I blinked at his words, it wasn't the first time I'd been asked the question in a Grail War, Shirou had asked me the same thing, though my answer hadn't changed since then my reasons for it were very different.

"Neither of us would ever make a wish on that thing. It has been corrupted and evil since the Third War, and to make a wish on it would only cause death and destruction." The man seemed surprised at that, though not upset.

"Oh." He paused and stroked his beard in thought. "I did not realize what the Grail had become, oh well, I suppose this is the nature of all things you magus create." I blinked at the words the man spoke, unable to completely hide my surprise.

"You speak as if you are not a magus yourself." Shirou spoke up in my place, he wasn't savvy with words as me but he was sharp and experienced enough to pick up on a few things.

"That is because I am not." The man spoke, a mixture of pride and contempt in his voice. "I am a faithful member of the order, and when I discovered that my body had these mutations you call magic circuits I decided to put them to use against you heathens. And by summoning my master forth we have gained the opportunity to eliminate the Grail and any who would wish to use it."

The man had started ranting, that was fine. If he wanted to monologue that would simply give us more information.

"You do not wish to use the Grail, but you are still heathens who twist and violate the world. You will not be the first my master kills but you will fall for your sins regardless." The man turned around and began to walk away, Shirou and I shared a look before deciding not to pursue.

I walked away from him, moving to the ladder Shirou had identified earlier. Shirou came up behind me, watching where the man had gone, it was only after almost a minute of inaction that he dispelled his swords and began to follow me up the ladder.

"He called them 'master', but I'm pretty sure from the way he talked about them he was referring to a Servant." Shirou was the one to break the silence.

"That much was obvious, but there was more. He talked about being a part of a religious order, and he didn't seem like he'd be willing to submit to just any outsider." The man had been a zealot, focused on his religion and nothing else.

"You think he summoned a saint or prophet of his religion? Or perhaps a demigod depending on who he worships?" Shirou had a good idea, and he was on the right track but there was more.

"No, I think he summoned Assassin." I could hear Shirou pause in his ascent for a bit as he thought about that. "It is unknown if the Hashshashin are still around, but it wouldn't really surprise anyone if they were. And the man was trained in stealth at the very least, we didn't know he was there until he wanted us to."

That had actually been a bit disturbing, I considered myself well aware of my surroundings but Shirou was on a whole other level. If he hadn't noticed him then he must've been good.

"You think he's a member of the Hashshashin." Shirou spoke up and then paused for a bit. "And that he summoned one of the Hassan as a Servant."

"Yeah, Assassin might not have been a Hassan in the last war but that was because of Caster. We'll have to watch out, Hassan's are always extremely deadly Servants and their Noble Phantasms focus exclusively on killing." I climbed the last rung and came up on top of the bridge as I spoke. Moving aside so that Shirou could get ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Shirou turned and began to scan the city before stopping and locking in on something. I followed his gaze and noticed the occasional flash of light coming up. If I had been unaware of the mystical side of the world I would have assumed it was someone using a power saw, or some amatuer smith messing with a grindstone. But I knew the light was sparks emitting from Berserker's and Saber's weapons clashing.

A new light lit up the night, this one much closer, as Shirou traced the large black bow that my Servant in that last war had used. He turned and nodded to me, signaling that he was ready. I turned my attention inwards, focusing on Archer's sight again as I spoke to her. 'We're in position, on top of the Fuyuki Bridge. We'll standby for now and see what happens.'

* * *

I shifted my upper body centimeters to the right, raising Dark Repulser in my left hand as I did so to deflect another devastating swipe of one of Berserker's axes. Even just the glancing strike made me feel like I was trying to stop a freight train.

I ducked under his other arm and managed to get under the giant's armpit, slashing away at his side with Elucidator as I moved behind him. It didn't seem to do much, the only reaction I got was a grunt of pain before Berserker turned towards me, both axes coming across in a scissoring blow.

I leapt high over the blades, somersaulting over his head and smacking him the face with one of my swords. I didn't pierce the armor though and I don't think I hit hard enough to stun him.

I had to roll to the side as soon as I landed, avoiding an overhead slash that cut deep into the pavement and cracked the ground all around it. The second blade came from the side and I ducked low, holding Elucidator against my shoulder at enough of an angle that the axe slid up it and past me.

Dark Repulser flashed out cutting into Berserker's arm as it passed but it didn't seem to do much but enrage him further. He leaned back for a moment before charging me, both axes coming around for swinging blows as they did, I kept my focus on him as he came at me but moved as fast as I could while watching him.

I barely outpaced the giant and ran toward the side of the road, slowing for less than a second I leapt off of the pavement, planting both my feet on a street lamp before pushing off and jumping back towards my opponent.

I managed to avoid getting hit in the air and cut into my opponent's shoulder as I passed, twisting in the air to land on my feet. Both axes came back, a flurry of blows fast and strong enough to buffet me with air.

I brought up both blades as I moved back to try and avoid the chain of attacks. I managed to get just out of Berserker's range and stay there as he swung but that only lead to my opponent trying to skewer me on one of the axe's pointed tips instead.

I got both blades in between me and the weapon, and my footing was solid so I assumed that I'd be able to take the blow and counter with my own in the opening that would follow.

I was wrong.

There was no skill, or ability, or enchantment that amplified the blow or made it harder to deal with. There was nothing to it but pure raw strength, and that alone launched me backwards.

I was more than able to keep my footing, even with the unexpectedness of the attack's power, that didn't help much as I found myself sliding down the pavement as if it were ice, the friction of my boots doing nothing to slow me.

I shoved the surprise in my mind aside, it wasn't the first time an enemy had caught me with a surprise ability and Berserker's strength wasn't that different from Skull Reaper's instant kill ability.

I swung both my blades around my body, shifting out of my guard to plant them both into the road next to me. Even with that it took a couple of seconds before I stopped.

Panting I looked up to my foe to see he hadn't shifted from his earlier position. I had a feeling that despite his supposed madness if I could see his eyes behind the mask he wore there'd be curiosity in them.

"Little man... no Saber, not weak." He rose to his full height as he spoke, almost leaning back with the way he flexed his back as if he were stretching.

"Yeah, but you're far stronger than I am." I gave a sigh as I spoke, drawing my blades out of the pavement and holding them at the ready.

"Saber fast... hard to hit." The enormous man shifted around, and I tensed for a moment when I thought he was going to charge me again when he suddenly stopped. "Master say... I leave now. But...one day...I kill you." With nothing more than that Berserker turned away and began to walk away, blue light swirling around him as he astralized.

'Should I pursue?' I posed the question to both myself and Argo. I hadn't been winning the fight but I certainly hadn't been losing it yet either.

'No.' Argo sent the word but I could feel much deeper thought behind it. 'You weren't losing but it would only take one slip up for you to get killed. But if you wanted to beat Berserker you'd need to either whittle him down or find something that can deal a devastating blow.' I felt her pause to gather her thoughts before dismissing them, likely with a shake of her head. 'We can talk about it in more detail later, for now you should just come back, no reason to go looking for more fights tonight.

I took a moment to slow my breath and the adrenaline pumping through my veins before nodding, knowing that Argo would sense the intent. I stood straight up and began to flourish my swords in preparation to sheathe them when something caught my eye.

I moved back into a combat stance, blue blade whipping out to to knock another sword out of the air, it detonated as I did so but the force was dispersed and blocked by my own sword. Elucidator intercepted the next blade and I found myself falling into a pattern of interception. I began to move as I blocked the weapons, running perpendicular to the line of fire I was taking.

My eyes traced the swords to the source, the speed they were moving at making them nothing more than blurred lines across the sky. They lead to the top of the largest bridge in the city. That was over two kilometers away, but I didn't stop to question the logic or feasibility of it, I simply moved further down the road, picking up speed as I did.

I moved behind one of the houses, breaking line of sight but I didn't let my guard drop, which was a good thing since the next sword simply came at a higher arc.

I began to move at a full sprint, trying to stick to areas where he couldn't see me directly to at least give him a harder time of aiming at me. I was desperately looking for a way out of his line of fire, something that would let me escape Emiya's onslaught. When I caught sight of my way out, I almost wished I hadn't seen it.

With gritted teeth and a silent curse I activated Presence Concealment to try and keep Emiya from realizing where I was headed and made my escape.

* * *

I walked down the street, Rin at my side as we headed back towards the house. It was getting late, or it was getting early to be more accurate, so we had decided to call it quits for the night. We had been walking in silence ever since my surprise attack on Saber and I knew the reason why.

Between one moment and the next I began to smell them, that of a cat, not a common housepet but a beast of the wild, a hunter, and the forest they lived in. It was mere seconds after that Archer arrived, deastralizing as they did so.

She landed with all the grace of the cats she shared features with, her hair green where it framed her face but quickly shifting into blonde as it cascaded down her back, the same blonde that covered her catlike ears and tail. Her outfit was a mix of forest greens and pure black, the small dress she wore not restricting her movement in the slightest. She was the picture of unattainable beauty as one serving the goddess of virginity should be, and she was utterly pissed at me.

"He was a child." I could see her teeth bared as she spoke, and I was marginally surprised that she hadn't conjured her bow.

"He was a Servant. A Heroic Spirit who has been long dead and simply takes on the appearance of a child due to some part of his legend or personality." I corrected the woman, and had we been talking about any real child, if we had simply been trying to save young lives, we probably would've gotten along great. Prior to our disagreement on the nature of Saber we had.

"He is a child, he may be a warrior and a hero, and I will treat him with the respect that deserves even in battle. But I will not allow such underhanded tactics against a boy." I did my best to keep my calm but this hard headed idiocy and stubborn adherence to a ridiculous set of morals, it reminded me too much of myself for me to keep my cool.

"He is a Servant and an enemy in the Grail War. And if he and his master win the war and make a wish on the Grail the damage they cause will be incalculable." This wasn't a matter where the life of one child could be placed in such high regard, if meant stopping the war I would kill a child to do it, even if I wouldn't say as much to Rin's Servant.

"Than why do you not tell the other Masters that? I am sure you could form an alliance to destroy the thing with at least a few of them." Archer was just as confused as angry at this point and I wasn't surprised about that, we hadn't covered this topic very well with her when we probably should have.

"They probably know already, it's been common knowledge amoung magus for years now." Rin answered instead of me, probably for the best since Archer was only angry at me. "The Einzbern did their best to delay the official investigation and keep it under wraps but even they had to back off eventually. There was another family that kept trying to hide it but they were taken care of in recent years so any magus even distantly connected to the Magus Association should know, the only Masters that wouldn't know would be ones that aren't magus, like the zealot from earlier, and they're rare enough that you only tend to get one per war."

I looked away from Rin and back to Archer, seeking to interrupt the magus before she got started on another lecture. "Atalanta." I spoke softly, using the hero's true name to show my sincerity. "I can understand the feeling of wanting to help others, especially those as defenseless as children. But if we lose this Grail War then far more children will suffer than just one or two, and we cannot risk that because we refuse to use our every advantage against our enemies." I looked to the Servant, and despite, or even in part because of, her foolish tendencies I respected her.

"I still find one who is so callous towards children distasteful." Atalanta paused as she looked away from me for a moment before speaking again. "But I concede your point. You are right that there is far too much else at risk here. As long as it is a Heroic Spirit we are dealing with I believe I can put my feelings aside." I gave the woman a small smile, truly glad that that problem had been resolved.

"Alright, let's get home. I'd like to get a few hours of sleep before I have to fend off Taiga again."

* * *

I trod through the murky water, covering my eyes and squinting slightly as I exited the tunnel and was exposed to the street lights. But despite the bright light after far too long in a dark tunnel the harshest thing I saw was the grin on my Master's face.

"Not a word." I tried to put as much force behind the sentence, to end the discussion of what I had just done for good, but I knew it wasn't going to work when Argo's grin just got bigger.

"A sewer? That was your only option?" She began to snicker and I hated her for it. She had seen everything I had, she knew that was the only way I was getting out of their without further attack. I simply stared at her and seethed, knowing nothing I said would help.

Argo took a breath like she was about to say something else clever before her eyes widened and she covered her nose and mouth. "Kii-bou." She spoke, here voice slightly muffled and even more nasally than usual. "You need a bath."

* * *

I sat down at the table, setting my dish of food down while Argo did the same across from me. It was simple stuff, just a fried egg on top of some rice with a bottle of soy sauce in the middle of the table, but it was much better than instant noodles.

"Alright." Argos spoke up even as she used her chopsticks to break the yolk on her egg. "We got two points from last night to talk about." I nodded knowing exactly what she meant.

"Berserker and Emiya." I broke my own egg and grabbed a piece of the whites alongside some rice, yolk running over the whole thing.

"Yep, the fight with Berserker wasn't going great from what I'd seen." She paused and looked me over, studying my reaction. "I mean, it didn't look like you were losing really but that wasn't doing much to help you take out Berserker."

"You're right. I was running through so many ways to try and win that fight, but honestly I couldn't come up with any. Not anything realistic at least." I paused, both to collect my thoughts and to take a bite of food. "I could have run it like a standard boss fight, dodge and block attacks and slowly whittle him down, but there are two problems with that. The first is that unlike enemies in SAO Berserker was intelligent." I paused as I realized something. "Or at least as intelligent as Berserkers get. I couldn't just learn his pattern and dodge his attacks."

"Because if nothing he was doing was working his pattern would change." I nodded at Argo's interruption, unsurprised that she had understood.

"Yeah, and then that would catch me off guard, and while I might be able to adapt to his new attacks the chance of one of them hitting and hitting hard is a problem. That's what that stab was actually, it was the first time all night he'd used one of weapons for a stab attack, and while I managed to block it he still hit hard. Really hard." My shoulders had been stiff for almost half an hour after that, which was a big deal since I was supposed to heal from most stuff fast.

"Yeah, dragging out the fight until you can whittle him down would be your last resort. You needed a chance to get off a decisive blow, or use some kind of trump card." There was one thing that I could've done, but I wasn't sure it would even have worked.

"I could have got him with Starburst Stream." I spoke up, naming one of the highest level combo moves in the Dual Wield skill tree. "I'm pretty sure I don't need the system assist to pull it off, not just my body but even my mind seems faster since I became a Servant." It wasn't something easy to notice, and it wasn't a huge boost, but the more I fought the more sure I was that it was there.

"Geez Kii-bou. Cuz you needed an even faster reaction time right?" I gave her a grin, knowing she was being at least a little sarcastic.

"Anyway I'm not sure that it would've worked anyway. Most of the combos in SAO only work because the enemy is stun locked during them. And I don't think Berserker would've flinched enough at each hit for that to work, and I don't think I'm strong enough to push him around." I was strong as a Servant, I probably could have lifted Berserker over my head, but that was only if he let me, and there was no way he would've let me shove him around.

Argo gave a notable sigh as she looked down to her food. "You need a Noble Phantasm." I grimaced, knowing that she was right. There was no way we were winning this thing without the trump card of Servants. And It wasn't like other Servants simply wouldn't use theirs because I couldn't use mine.

"And that's the second problem." I went back to the original point that we'd gotten side tracked from. "If I had tried to drag out the fight eventually Berserker would've dropped his Noble Phantasm." I didn't need to say anything else, we both knew how that would've ended.

"And then there's Emiya." Argo gave a sigh as she spoke.

"That man has some serious bullshit." I spoke aloud, not caring for the profanity. Argo's eyes snapped to me.

"Really? I mean, we knew from the other night that he could shoot swords from that bow of his what was special about last night?" I blinked as I realized Argo had missed something I'd found out.

"You didn't see where he was shooting from did you?" It'd been of the first things I'd identified when he'd attacked me.

"No, I assumed he was on top of one of the houses nearby." She paused as she considered something. "I was a little surprised that you didn't rush him last night actually, I thought you were worried about Archer attacking too." I actually laughed a little at that, and the look Argo gave me told me I needed to explain myself. Quickly.

"He was way too far away for me to rush." I spoke a little to hurridley. "If I'd have rushed him he probably would've just left long before I got there." I saw the look of confusion on the former information broker's face and I decided I'd gone long enough without answering. "He was on top of the bridge." Shock replaced confusion on Argo's face.

"Wait, you don't mean the Fuyuki Bridge do you?" I nodded solemnly. "But that was," Argo paused for a moment thinking, "around two-point-three kilometers away!" I blinked for a moment surprised at the specific value before realizing it was Argo and she probably had a map of Fuyuki and my location from last night memorized.

"And that's why he's bullshit." I spoke with a flat tone. I saw what Argo was about to do and reached across the table to drag her plate forwards. With a thud her face hit the table as she began to groan.

"First he holds Saber off in a direct fight, then he manages to outrange most Archers with almost perfect accuracy." She turned her head to the side so she could look me in the face. "Are we sure Emiya isn't just her Servant from the last war and that she managed to keep him around somehow?"

"She kept a Servant around for twenty years, without the Grail's support, and no one noticed?" I didn't know much about this stuff but even I knew how far fetched that was.

Argo simple turned her face back so she was staring at nothing but the table and continued to groan. I lifted another piece of food to my mouth and kept eating. This was way worse than Aincrad for sure.

* * *

"Here." I spoke as I handed Fuji-nee a bento, ensuring that I wouldn't need to bring her one today too.

"Ah, thanks Shirou!" Taiga leaned past me to look at Rin who was standing further down the hall. "Bye Rin-chan!" With that the tiger of Fuyuki was out the door and on her way to work. I turned and walked back down the hall to the dining room to see Archer eating her own breakfast already.

It had taken some effort to convince the woman to eat, eventually she had agreed for the enjoyment of the activity if not the necessity. After she had one meal though it was no trouble to convince her to have more of my food, though that didn't mean she could eat with Taiga around.

"Alright, we can get started now." Rin sat down at the table and spoke up, beginning our strategy meeting after last light. "Shirou, did you get anything out of Berserker's axes last night?" I nodded, the range I had seen them at was irrelevant, only that I seen the weapons with my own eyes.

"Berserker is Asterios, Minotauros or The Minotaur, son of King Minos, child of Pasiphae and a bull. His axe, for they are really one weapon that has been split into two, is Labrys. The weapon itself is" I paused thinking over what I had gleaned from the weapon, "complicated. It ties into his Noble Phantasm but they aren't the Noble Phantasm themselves.

"Rin." My tone became grave. "You probably shouldn't go anywhere without either me or Archer, even during the day, until Berserker is dead. Things could go off any minute." Rin gave me an odd look at that before simply nodding.

The weapon was difficult to comprehend and its very nature made fully understanding it complex. I could look over the blueprints for hours and not fully understand the weapon because it was far more than a weapon.

"And did you learn anything more about Saber from your magecraft?" Atalanta spoke up this time.

"No, and that's still bothering me." If I had any pride it would've been stung at the idea of not being able to read his swords. "Noble Phantasms do exist that can impede efforts to discover a Servant's identity, but we haven't noticed it affecting anyone other than me so that doesn't seem likely."

"I've been thinking about that." Rin spoke up this time, drawing my attention to her. "While it's far beyond what the mystery is normally capable of what you're doing is inherently structural analysis, and while not common there are methods for magus to block that." I blinked sensing what she was getting at, and apparently Archer did too.

"You believe that is it Saber's Master foiling Shirou's attempts to understand their blades?"

"Yeah, it would fit with what other magecraft we've seen them use. The bounded fields they used before were based around the collection of information, it wouldn't be a surprise that hey have ways to obscure information as well and your abilities to gain information from weapons are something of an open secret, have been for a long time."

"That's a very specific focus for a magus' craft." I pointed out that we might be able to track down the magus or at least their lineage based on that.

"You're right that we may be able to identify them based off of that. But there are still a good number of families focusing on information even if they're rare." Rin shook her head and moved on. "Anyway from Saber's performance last night it's becoming more and more clear that defeating him from range without a Noble Phantasm is impossible." Rin looked over to me, a question clear on her lips. "Do you think Caladbolg could kill him?"

I paused as I considered the question. I hadn't used it yet because it was one of my most powerful trump cards, and using it when I wasn't sure it would kill the enemy or I was just that desperate wasn't a good idea.

"Maybe." I settled on. "Saber is skilled enough at deflecting my sniping and fast enough that as long as he was aware of the attack coming he could intercept it, and Caladbolg is so powerful he'd have to be mystically blind not to notice it coming. It would come down to just how high his endurance and magic resistance is, very, very little can survive Caladbolg, but if his magic resistance and endurance are high enough he might be able to, but it'll cripple him anyway."

"A good last resort then, in case we do need to kill him it'll be at least enough that we can kill him after." Rin looked towards Atalanta next, the question she had obvious enough.

"Phoebus Catastrophe is a powerful attack, but it is inherently just many smaller attacks combined. I am sure that it would wound him greatly but the boy is skilled enough that I believe he would be able to avoid a fatal wound." I found myself nodding in agreement.

Tauropolos had been stored in the Bladeworks since the moment Rin had summoned Archer, and while I couldn't use Phoebus Catastrophe the attack was intertwined with the bow enough that I understood the potential of it myself. Saber would not be able to avoid the attack, and he would not be able to block every arrow, but he would be able to limit the damage though it would undoubtedly cripple him to do so.

"Hmmm." I looked over to Rin as she made a sound of thought. "If it wounds him badly enough maybe we can steal him. Shirou has Rule Breaker and if I transfer a command seal or two to him then he can serve as a Master." I blinked at her words. How callous and calculative, using the same tactics that Caster had used against us in the Fifth War. As expected of Rin.

"That leaves only one thing, the assumed Master of Assassin." I brought up our final topic for the morning, and also the one we knew the least about.

"Master informed me of what occurred already. If we can trust the man then neither he nor his Servant will be as pressing of a threat as the other Masters since they do not intend to use the Grail." Archer dropped her two cents in, speaking in between bites of the food I had cooked.

"But they are still inherently hostile to us." Rin spoke up. "They still plan to kill us and we have no way of knowing when they plan to do that. They may not be someone we should go out of our way to eliminate but if we get the chance to kill them we need to take it." Rin looked over to the clock in the corner of the room, I followed her gaze and noticed that we'd been talking for a while already.

"Alright, I'm going to head over to the Tohsaka manor and check over the records there, I might be identify the family Saber's Master belongs to, or at least identify what mystery is preventing you from analyzing Saber's weapons." Rin stood as she spoke, getting ready to leave.

"Take Archer with you, I'll stick around here. I want to spend some time going over Labrys again." Rin gave me an odd look for that.

"Those weapons really have you that wound up?" I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, thinking about it.

"One weapon, singular." I corrected her almost automatically and knew that if it hadn't been my one greatest specialty she would've been upset at me for it. "Labrys is a weapon, but it's also a part of something bigger. I can see what that something is but I need to look into to get that information and work to understand it." Rin gave me a knowing look, aware that this feeling of not simply knowing a weapon was strange to me.

"Well any information you get on the Minotaur will be good." Rin looked over to Archer and I followed her gaze to see the huntress had finished her meal. "Alright, we'd better get going, we'll be back for dinner." I gave Rin a nod, my mind already drawing up the axe that had me so conflicted.


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey, finally finished Chapter 4! Sorry about how long this took but I've realized just how impossible a chapter every week is. I'm still gonna strive for regular updates and to keep working on my stories at least some every day, but weekly chapters simply won't be in the cards unless I decide to start a new story and have a few chapters already written prior.**

 **I'd like to talk about the balance of this story a bit, and by that I mean the division between the SAO characters and the FSN characters. It was my intention to spend roughly half the time in the story with Kirito and Argo, and half with Shirou and Rin, with more focus being on Kirito and Shirou since they are our primary protagonists. That hasn't really been true to this point, with the story leaning heavily in favor for Kirito and Argo. While I'm not actually happy about this the reason is something I accept, the story is better when portrayed through the view of the underdog, those less experienced in the issues relevant to the story. There's less to talk about with Rin and Shirou because they already fought a Grail War, and Kirito only just discovered magecraft, so that gives me stuff to talk about from his POV and opportunities to explain Fate mechanics without it seeming forced.** **Now, these are things that are only true early in the story, and with this chapter the early stages of the story are over. So from here on it will be a lot more balanced with more Shirou and Rin involvement.**

 **This chapter falls in at 8.6k, a good length in my book, but I'm not all that happy with the first half of it. It was a bit of a slog to get through but was all necessary for the latter half of the chapter and the future of the story in general so I'm glad it's done with. I'm gonna cut this here because there's gonna be a bit of an AN at the end too.**

"You really know how to use all of these weapons?" I stood in Argo's basement, or I suppose her workshop. We'd come down here after breakfast, Argo had an idea about how to beat Berserker and had wanted to come down here to get what she'd need for it.

"Yeah, while my parents wanted me to focus mainly on more standard weapons like swords and lances that almost certainly show up in a Grail War I was pretty interested in more obscure types of weapons and I thought that being able to use them to at least a decent degree would be beneficial even if the Heroic Spirit I summoned just used a normal sword." I nodded, remembering that Argo's original plan prior to SAO had involved her or some other member of her family serving as the host for the summoned Servant.

"The you probably you must've joined a Kendo club at school or something right?" I noted a particularly savage looking weapon, numerous smaller blades linked together to form a long chain of sharp edges, the first link in it a handle and the last a pointed tip with barbs on both sides.

"No, never joined Kendo." I heard Argo move around as she spoke, closing one dusty old tome and picking up another as she searched for some piece of information she had yet to explain to me. "I considered it but Kendo has too many rules and regulations, it's simply too far removed from real combat to be useful beyond learning how to swing a sword properly and I can do that without the club or competitions." I found myself agreeing with that conclusion.

"Yeah, it is isn't it." I thought back to my own experiences with the sport. "I used to do Kendo myself when I was younger, my sister still does. It's part of the reason I chose to use a one handed sword in SAO, didn't think about it much at the time but Kendo is nothing like real combat. So what, you didn't you join any clubs?"

"I actually ended up joining an archery club, while Kyudo is really ritualistic and that doesn't lend itself to combat if you learn it and learn it well you can skip actually performing most of the steps and simply focus your mind enough to shoot with accuracy." Argo paused as she considered something. "Well, it's not like I ever managed to get that far into it. I had to keep from showing off enough to draw attention and SAO happened before I graduated middle school. "I paused and considered that for a moment.

"That means you're younger than me then, I graduated middle school just before we got trapped." I turned and looked towards Argo as I spoke.

"I suppose you want me to call you senpai then? Kii-bou-senpai?" I grimaced a bit and shook my head, I really didn't need her making my nickname any more strange.

"Not unless you want me calling you Argo-chan." The predatory look she gave me over her shoulder told me how ineffective my threat had been. "Then, what about Gikas-chan?" I spoke up, referring to her family name this time. The derisive snort I got as she looked back to her books told me it wasn't much better but luckily she dropped it anyway.

"Whatever, I'll just keep calling you Kii-bou anyway, it's short, sweet, and I've been using it way too long to drop it now." Argo paused a moment, and that pause drew my attention to see her scanning a book with much greater interest than the ones before it. "AHA! Found it!"

It was a large, thick, dusty old tome, just like several dozen others in the room, though this one was open to show a page with an assortment of magical circles with all sorts of symbols and shapes in them. The adjacent page was lines of text, details, explanations, and instructions that I could barely understand due to all the complex language and what I assumed was mystical jargon. It was almost like reading greek.

Wait, it was greek!

"Why can I suddenly read greek?" Argo turned and gave me a weird look, confusion evident on her face before a look of understanding suddenly appeared as she realized something.

"It's because you're a Servant, the Grail automatically gives Servants some knowledge when they are summoned. Most of it's about the time period they are summoned to, y'know, so Berserkers don't flip out about tiny metal dragons going up and down roads, and Saber doesn't go trying to slay a bus." I nodded, urging her to continue.

"Well the Grail also gives them comprehension of any languages in use during that time period. It wouldn't do for a magus to summon Perseus, then realize that he can't speak ancient greek and they have no way to communicate."

"So the Grail just pumped my head full of every language in earth?" I shook my head, trying to remove a weird feeling that wasn't even really there.

"Not every language, only those commonly spoken. You won't have any dead languages in there since no one speaks them, not even stuff like latin that isn't used conversationally." I blinked, nodding slowly. I didn't know where exactly the boundaries for that kinda stuff were but it didn't seem like it'd be relevant anytime soon.

Argo let out a sigh that drew my focus back towards her. "Under any other circumstances I'd love to test the boundaries of what attributes you do and don't share with normal Servants, Demi and Pseudo-Servants are something I've been studying all my life after all, but there's more important things to focus on for now." Argo tapped her finger on the page in front of her a few times drawing my attention back to the book. I just gave her a blank look.

"Even if I can read greek all of a sudden that doesn't mean I can understand this thing. Way too much jargon and lingo that I have no reference for." I waved one had and leaned back a bit, giving up on the book. I probably could've figured a few things off just based on my own meager knowledge and context but I'd rather just admit defeat and have Argo explain things.

"This is a series of diagrams for a set of formalcraft, runework, enchantments, and connections to ley lines to create a bounded field capable of tracking the prana that flows into it back to its source." I only understood half of that, but what I did understand had caught my interest.

"You can use this to track the prana of a Servant back to their Master." The smirk on Argo's face told me I was right, though her words said there was a bit more to the situation.

"The original thaumaturgy is an old one, a really really old one. It dates back millennia, to relatively shortly after the Age of Gods ended and magus began to rely on prana that wasn't simply in the air around them. This was created and used as a means of tracking what prana there was in the air back to the ley lines to identify and map them."

I nodded along slowly, Age of Gods was a pretty self explanatory name and therefore easy to remember, the time when literal gods like Zeus and Odin regularly interacted with mortals and legends like Herakles and Sigurd roamed the earth. And Ley Lines were simply the parts of the earth that released the most prana. Something about the life force of the planet that sounded way too much like lore fluff for me to really remember.

"That means that the original mystery can't track the flow of prana to a Master." Argo continued her lecture, and I refocused to see if I could actually learn something. "It's not enough prana, moving over too small of a time frame in a far more focused manner than how prana flows from a Ley line." I saw Argo open her mouth as she prepared to boast but I cut her off. I could see where this was going.

"Your family adapted-slash-improved upon the original? And now you can track a Master based on their Servant." I paused as I thought of something. "And you want to use this to track down Berserker's Master?"

"Yeah, Emiya and Archer are a threat but one more controllable, we know how they're going to act for a large part both because they fought in the last war and the numerous records of Emiya fighting as a freelancer. Berserker himself is an abnormality, seeing as he's at least somewhat sane, and his Master more so."

I raised a brow at that, the question I had didn't need to go spoken.

"When you told Berserker, and by extension his Master, about Emiya, his Master had two reactions. First, they acknowledged Emiya as a problem but decided to deal with it on their own, two, they decided to try and kill you."

"But it's the Grail War, enemy Master's should be trying to kill me every chance they get." I pointed out the obvious, but Argo had clearly thought of that.

"But Berserker was only told to kill you after you told him about Emiya. When you first showed yourself there was no issue, and when you releaveled your identity Berserker still didn't get aggressive. It wasn't just being a Servant that set his Master off, it was the fact that you were spreading information about other Servants and Masters." It all clicked for me.

"You think that they're going to target us because we might spread information about them as well." It wasn't an impossibility, we had knowledge gained from our encounter with Berserker and if we saw an advantage in telling others what we knew we'd do it.

"Yeah, I don't know how much of a priority they'll treat us as, but if they actually fall for our trap then that's telling in of itself." I nodded, both understanding and agreeing before I spoke up again.

"So what, I lure Berserker into the area your field covers then you guide me to where his Master is?" I paused as I considered something. "You want me to kill the Master, don't you?" Argo gave me a grimace, knowing and understanding my reluctance, but knowing the necessity even more.

"I know you don't want to but these people are more than willing to kill us as well." She paused as she considered something. "If it makes you feel and better you could simply cut off their hand." I flinched back a bit.

My confusion must have been clear because Argo explained. "The Command Seals appear on the back of the right hand," she held up her own for emphasis, "and if you can seperate the Command Seals from the Master then you cut the Servant off from their prana supply, just like if you had killed them. The Master can still be a danger, but a much smaller and more controllable one, and you need to take the hand with you, most magus are capable of reattaching a severed limb if given access to the right resources and time."

I nodded slowly, the idea of cutting someone's hand off then claiming it like some kind of trophy was pretty gruesome but it was at least better than killing. "Beats the alternative." I spoke up with a sigh. "So I get Berserker to attack me, then once he's in your bounded field you can guide me straight to his Master, I cut their hand off, Berserker suddenly has no prana, and we win, simple right?" The look on Argo's face told me it wouldn't be that simple.

"Well, the field's original design was meant to operate on a scale of days, only knowing where the Ley Lines are after a few days had passed since it was laid down. This version can do it way faster than that but it will still take some time." I felt my brow raise at the vague answer and what she was implying with it.

"Argo, how long am I going to have to fight Berserker in a small limited area?" The wince she gave was telling.

"About, fifteen minutes?" Neither her answer nor her tone inspired confidence in me.

"'About'?" I spoke up in a questioning tone.

""There's some variance." I could only rub my forehead in frustration, this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

I scanned through another book off the shelves in the Tohsaka study, scowling as I flipped page by page through it and it became clear it was no more helpful than the last. My Servant must have noticed my scowl because she spoke up.

"Is it truly so difficult for you to identify the magecraft limiting you lover's abilities?" I felt myself flush a bit and spoke up a little too quickly in response.

"D-don't call him that!" Damnit, if anyone claims I stammered I deny it! "And no, I figured out what mystery that is hours ago." I sighed as I spoke, if this could be that easy I would've been done in time for some lunch, instead here I was flipping through pages as Shirou was probably getting started on dinner preparations.

"Truly? Then you have devised a way to counter it?" Atalanta perked up at my words and I couldn't help but snort derisively.

"No, the mystery was so easy to identify because despite how rarely it's used everyone learns Structural Analysis, so everyone knows about it. It's an enchantment that can be placed on an item to block Structural Analysis but since no one ever uses Structural Analysis beyond the very basics no one ever worries about defending against a counter to it." I sighed as I spoke. "I could make my own counter to it but I'd need to learn more about the mystery first, and despite how little most magus care the families that know it still guard it jealously."

"So if you are not capable of creating a counter to the mystery that Saber's Master is using then what are you attempting that has you so stumped now?" I shut the book I was holding and slammed it on the table in frustration as I spoke up.

"Trying to figure out what family they're from! It shouldn't be that hard, the magecraft they use is fairly unique, less than dozen lineages even use them." I slammed the table in frustration, this was getting ridiculous.

"Then why are you having so much trouble?" There was no taunt in her tone, no barb or jab, just legitimate concern and curiosity, and it helped me calm down quite a bit.

"Because they can't be from any of the families. Half of them are tied up in so many contracts and bindings that they can't take hostile action towards at least one of the three founding families, a side effect of dealing in information and espionage I suppose, and the other half are too minor and new to be capable of some of the stuff our mystery Master has been doing." I ran a hand through my hair, in worry and thought, a strange tic I worried I might be picking up from too much time with Shirou.

"Then there must be something we are missing." I sighed, knowing that to be true but also aware that knowing that didn't make it any easier. I looked back up and grew annoyed at the hair that had fallen to cover my face, I blew the stray strands away and spoke up again.

"Well there is one family that fits the bill perfectly. One of the longest lines dealing in information based magecraft, used to be a pretty powerful line a few generations back, have no ongoing deals with the Matou, Einzbern, or Tohsaka, but it can't possibly be them." I sighed as I placed the book I had back onto a shelf, scanning the spines of the other books as I looked for the next one to check.

"Why can it not be this family? What is it about them that makes you so sure of it?" Archer spoke as I pulled a new book from the shelf, this one no more likely to contain the answers I needed than the last but I had to keep trying, at least for a little longer. In the meantime it wouldn't hurt to answer my Servant's question.

"Because they're all dead." I said it a little harsher than I meant to, but I couldn't help it. If not for them we might not even be here.

"They were the family we talked about yesterday, the head and his wife had been trying to obscure information regarding the corruption of the Grail and spread false rumors. Shirou and I managed to track down the rumors and prove the evidence they had gathered false with the help of a few other influential magus, and they had a trial last year." It had been more of a show than anything, with the support of Lord El Melloi II, the Tohsaka name, and none of the other Founding Families opposing openly in addition to the evidence we had the trial had gone even smoother than we anticipated.

"They were found guilty of conspiring against Clock Tower and actions that could have caused the reveal of magecraft. They were executed and with no heir Clock Tower confiscated the Magic Crest and people are still fighting over who gets to study it." I would've laughed at them squabbling over the scraps of dead magus if I didn't realize how valuable such a thing could be. If I wasn't here fighting the war I'd probably be trying to get my own chunk of flesh.

"Well," Archer spoke up again, "that is reason enough to discount them as our mystery Master. Though, just out of curiosity, what was their name?" I hummed silently as I leafed through the book I had pulled off of the shelf, answering Atalanta's question distractedly.

"Gikas."

* * *

"Argo, what is this place?" I could feel it in the air as we walked past the shriveled and bare trees, there was more than just a tension there was some sort of corruption, an evil.

"This is Fuyuki Central Park, the land here has been evil and corrupted since the Fourth War." Argo looked around, seemingly more tense than usual and I could tell this place was getting to her too. "My parents could never find out the cause actually, but they had a few theories." Argo stopped and I knew she was waiting for me to ask.

"Alright, I'll bite." My boots crushed the dry grass under my feet as I walked. "What are these theories you parents had?"

"Well, this place has obviously been hit with some really powerful corruption and it hasn't vanished even after all this time, and since this is Fuyuki it's safe to assume it was a Servant that did this." I nodded, following along with that logic logic easily.

"Well the Fourth Grail War had a few Servants that might've been capable of this." Argo waved her hand around to gesture to the whole park before stopping and shivering for a second.

"First would be the Caster of the war Gilles de Rais, he was capable of summoning demonic familiars, he kidnapped children and used them as sacrifices in rituals, becoming a target of all the other Masters because he threatened to reveal magecraft, he could have used a greater ritual on this area in order to corrupt it before he was killed off."

I nodded along, understanding this all pretty well. From what I knew of Gilles de Rais, or 'Bluebeard', he was a pedophile and a sadist who kidnapped and abused children. I suppose I could add evil magus to that list now.

"There was also the Berserker of the Fourth War, though this one is a bit of stretch it's worth mentioning." Argo led us deeper into the park as she spoke.

"The Berserker was Lancelot, but what's important was his Noble Phantasm took anything he used as a weapon, from a street light to a stick, and corrupted and empowered it to such a degree that they could match Noble Phantasm for at least a short time. In theory if he was able to treat this entire area as a 'weapon' and use it to fight it'd explain the corruption. Not that I have any idea how he'd do that."

I chuckled a bit as she said that, I knew about using the terrain to your advantage, and that the battlefield was its own weapon, but this was a little far.

"And there's one more candidate but there's not much to say about him." Argo casually shrugged as she spoke and that peaked my interest.

"Who?" I lifted my foot a bit higher as I spoke, moving over a particularly large root.

"Archer, Gilgamesh. There's nothing in his legend that could cause this level of corruption but that doesn't matter. Gilgamesh had a Noble Phantasm called the Gate of Babylon, it contained all of humanity's treasures, including any Noble Phantasm that could be called such. If there's any tool, weapon, regent, spell or any object, that could cause this corruption, Gilgamesh would have it. The real question is why he would use it."

"Alright then, now that the history lesson is over I should probably ask why we're here, but I think I already know." I paused a moment and noted the look Argo was giving me, she had clearly expected as much. "You want to use the corruption to hide your bounded field."

"Right on the money." Argo snapped her fingers as she looked at me. "Now that'd be 500 col for the information." Argo held out her hand as if to accept the money, giving me a grin as she messed around. I had to pay her in kind.

"Alright here you go." I manifested a few larger denomination coins from the game, giving my best grin as I did, the look on Argo's face was so worth it but it was also worthy of an explanation. "Remember my Noble Phantasm, Equipment from Many Games? Well, apparently this counts as equipment." The look on Argo's face told me she was running through all the implications of my newfound ability to create gold, unfortunately I had to let her down.

"I can't sell them. And not for moral reasons." I hurriedly added the second part when Argo began to open her mouth. "The only thing maintaining them is my Noble Phantasm, so if I get too far away from them they'll disappear. I'm pretty sure that's how it works for everything I can pull out."

"How do you know that?" Argo's tone wasn't accusing or trying to contradict me, but genuinely curious, and I had to pause for a moment to think about it.

"I, I just do." I waved my hand and hurried to explain further, because saying I just do is a really poor explanation. "It's like, every time I use my Noble Phantasm its effects become more instinctive to me, this morning I almost pulled clothes from it instead of my bag." It would've been more embarrassing if the implications of it weren't so massive.

"If I think about something I might have, as long as I have something close to what I want I can get it." I paused for a second and manifested a new coin, this one a silver color, tossing it to Argo as it formed. "That's a yuld, I don't know where it's from but I apparently have them too." I saw the way Argo was examining the coin closely, turning it around in her hand. I wasn't sure if she was trying to figure out its origins or how much it was worth.

"What about weapons then? I know you're only good with swords but some of the other weapons you had in SAO could be useful, even if it's stuff you just sold off." I paused and thought about it for a second before shaking my head.

"Can't, it doesn't seem like I can pull out anything I had but didn't use." I started checking what weapons I did have available. "I've got plenty of swords that I used earlier in Aincrad, armor too, I've probably got other swords too but I've got so many one handed longswords that it's kinda hard pulling up one unless I know it or it's pretty unique."

Weapons in SAO didn't last long, my first real sword, an Anneal Blade, had only lasted until the 4th floor, and while Elucidator had lasted from the 51st floor until the 75th that was a bit of an exception. As a drop from the 50th floor boss it was the best weapon in the game at the time, so good that I didn't even have the strength to equip it at first. And with 40 slots for upgrades I was able to keep making it better until near game end. And even with all that if the game had continued I would've had to replace it in the next couple of floors.

"I could use my older swords." I said referring back to Argo's question. "But none of them are as good as Elucidator and Dark Repulser, or unique enough to have their own advantages." I was glad to have finished the game with the weapons I did, both had been special to me, Elucidator had been a hard fought reward for one of the toughest boss fights in Aincrad and Dark Repulser had been a masterpiece, the greatest weapon Lizbeth ever forged and the perfect sword for my dual wielding.

"Well it's not like that doesn't leave you other options, throwing picks could be useful, at least against familiars or something." I nodded understanding what she meant, my picks were never meant to be used against strong opponents, they were meant for drawing aggro and picking off weaker mobs.

"Yeah, the problem is most of my stuff isn't high enough level to compete with Servants, I only ever used my sword in boss battles."

We came to a stop after a moment and Argo walked over to a tree nearby. She drew a small dagger from her coat, she had told me it was a mystic code, though I didn't know what its effects were. She began to carve a rune into the tree and I couldn't do anything but watch. A minute later she was done and slipped the dagger away again, hidden in the arms of her coat.

"So, how many of these do we have to do?" I hadn't asked before but I felt it was suddenly rather important.

"Twenty-seven." I felt my eyes bulge for a moment and in my shock my mind defaulted to analyzing the number automatically.

"Three to the power of three." I spoke up as I realized the significance of the value. "I don't suppose that has anything to do with why you need that many?"

"Magecraft can be affected by anything, and everything involved in it has some level of significance. I never learned much about numerology but any decent magus at least knows it's important to have proper values in your mysteries, and that setting them up with numbers of significance can empower them." I nodded, not truly understanding the reasoning but accepting it.

"But," I spoke up interrupting her explanation, "it took us quite a while to get this one done, it's gonna take all day to finish this, isn't it?"

"Yeah, just about, but we do have all day. Just think of it like a fetch quest, running from one place to another to get everything you need." I couldn't help but sigh and hang my head low. I hated fetch quests, everyone did.

* * *

The weapon was more than a weapon, it was the root and origin of far more than itself. It was not a Noble Phantasm and yet it was, the axe itself was not the Noble Phantasm of Heroic Spirit Asterios but it was deeply and intimately connect to his actual Noble Phantasm, in some ways they were one and the same.

I could feel that Noble Phantasm, feel how connected Labrys was to it, even see parts of it. But it wasn't like normally reading a weapon's history, in those cases I simply knew and as soon as I wanted to know about it the knowledge came. This was different, I had to work to obtain the information and even then if I forgot it was gone, just like that. So different from the blades that were a part of my soul.

I shook my head, returning to the dinner preparations as my stomach urged me to get food. I had already skipped lunch milling over Berserker's axe so much, and now Taiga would be home soon and it was time to prepare dinner. Rin and Archer hadn't come back yet but she had told me she'd be here for dinner and I knew she would, even if she'd have to go back to the Tohsaka manor after.

"I'm home." I had heard the door open and was already turning the heat down so that the food wouldn't burn as I greeted the arrivals.

"Welcome home." I paused for a second, my mystic senses searching for something and finding it after a moment. "Taiga isn't here yet." I spoke to the empty air standing next to Rin, a moment later Atalanta materialised. I nodded briefly to acknowledge her before turning back to Rin. "Any success?" The grimace on her face told me no.

"I know what mystery is blocking you from tracing Saber's weapons, the problem is that it's rare enough to not have any common counter mysteries and I don't know enough about how it works to make one." I nodded, knowing that there was more there but accepting that if Rin wasn't telling me it there was nothing I could do with it. I could use Rule Breaker to dispel the mystery but I wasn't desperate enough to risk tracing that in the middle of a fight.

"What about the Master?" That was the second thing Argo had gone to research, and I could tell by the way her face twisted that that hadn't gone much better.

"Yeah, nothing I found tells me anything useful. The Master is either a disinherited member of one of the families I looked at or a magus of an entirely different line who was apprenticed out to one of them. I can't narrow it down any further than that without Clock Tower's records and even if we were there I don't know if I could get the access I'd need." Rin paused sighing for a moment before looking to me. "What about you?"

I blinked for a moment, my mind whirling back to a weapon that was far more than a weapon before shaking my head for a moment.

"That bad huh?" My eyes snapped back to Rin as she spoke up.

"It's not that it went bad per se. Just that despite all I've learned about Labrys there's way more I don't know than I do, and no matter how much I do learn I still get this really weird feeling about it." It wasn't unpleasant or down right wrong like it had been with Ea, just strange.

"I noticed," was all Rin said.

* * *

"Wait, you're coming?" I spoke up in mix of surprise and confusion as I looked at Argo. I had been about to head out the door, my clothes already on and just starting to lace up my boots when she walked up, her coat and shoes already on.

The last two nights she had stayed inside when I left, cooped up in her workshop surrounded by wards that hid her from other Masters and gave her better control over the bounded fields she had. I would've complained about her staying in while I risked my life but it was better for both of us that way. In a real fight she was a liability compared to myself and the other Servants and from her workshop she could better support me anyway.

"Yeah, unfortunately I kinda have to." Argo grimaced as she spoke, scratching the back of her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I need to analyze the data from the bounded field, otherwise I won't be able to track down Berserker's Master. Normally I'd do it from my workshop, but in this case I have to do it from within the bounded field, it was the one thing my parents weren't able to change from the original."

"So now I've gotta protect you from Berserker too?" I matched Argo's grimace with one of my own. This just kept getting better.

"Not entirely. I just have to be inside the field, not standing out in the open with a sign that says, 'Enemy Master here, kill me!'. I'll hide myself, both physically and mystically." Argo opened he coat as she spoke, giving me a glimpse of the inside, numerous tiny runes, sewn into the coat. "It'd take someone really good to find me, there's no way Berserker will and I'm not stupid enough to let him stumble onto me."

I nodded, satisfied. If there was one thing that I trusted as much as Argo's information it was her ability to stay out of a fight. In SAO she had often hired me to guard and fight for her while she sought information in particularly dangerous ways or wanted to grind her level.

Protecting Argo wasn't your standard escort quest, when the enemies were too high level for her to fight safely she'd disappear or fall back, only inserting herself to steal the last kill for extra experience or if you needed the help and she could give it. Argo wasn't a front liner, not in the normal way at least. She wasn't as skilled or high level as the players who fought floor bosses but she had been better than any midliner and capable of surviving on the front lines while mostly solo.

"Alright, let's go." My 'Master' spoke up as she brushed past me, opening the door with one hand as she flipped up her hood with the other. I followed behind me, doing my best to erase my mystical signature using Presence Concealment.

"So, I fight Berserker for a bit, then you tell me where his Master is and I go and cut off their," I paused for a second, recalling which hand Argo had told me, "right hand, and take the command seals with me?"

"Yeah, except you gotta make sure it's the right hand you need. Sometimes Masters will get them in different places, the right hand is simply the norm with the left being the next most common." Argo paused for a moment before she continued. "But if you can't find the command seals quick enough-"

"Berserker will catch up and we're back to square one." I grimaced a bit as I got what she was leading to. "If I can't find them I have to kill the Master don't I?" A nod was my only response, I know magus like Argo had little problems killing their enemies but I wasn't a magus and even Argo didn't like having to do it. "I can handle it, I've killed before, it doesn't matter that it was in SAO, I still killed people." I could feel the look Argo was giving me but I didn't turn to look back at her. There was a pause as we both fell into silence before she spoke again.

"Thank you."

"It's for Asuna." I paused for a second. "And you're welcome."

* * *

I grabbed the two way radio off my hip, holding it up to my mouth as I spoke. "I see something." There was a pause as Rin waited for me to extrapolate and I pumped prana into my eyes so I could get more. "At Central Park, Berserker and Saber are fighting again."

I paused listening to Rin as she spoke.

"Yeah, it is strange that they're fighting for the second night in a row, something is up, I think Saber's Master laid another trap." I hadn't forgotten the ambush I had fallen prey to on the first night.

"You're right, Berserker's a Servant, so if this is a trap there has to be more to it. The question is what." Rin spoke up again and I had to wait as she spoke.

"If Archer is moving you need to stick with her. I'll watch the fight from here and if something changes I'll keep you informed." I waited a for a short pause.

"Good luck to you too.

* * *

I ducked under another swing, using both of my blades to deflect the other axe. It was insane trying to keep Berserker at bay as we fought, it was like fighting a dual wielding Gleam Eyes that was twice as strong and fully intelligent, and I wasn't sure if I could hold out even for the fifteen minutes Argo had requested.

I backed off a bit, trying to move in a circle as I kept my distance. It was futile though, Berserker was fast enough to keep up with my half retreating movements and if I tried to kite him in open space for more than a few seconds we'd leave the bounded field.

I spun around one axe, before making a small hop over the other. The second came swinging back around in my brief moment airborne as I blocked with crossed blades. Soon I found myself launched through the air, only stopping after my back splintered a tree trunk. It then occurred to me that I just needed to avoid open space.

I gritted my teeth as I stood, before suddenly rolling to the side as I avoided a full charge by the enemy Servant. I kept moving out of my roll, running with the momentum and dodging between the tree trunks in the park. Every axe swing demolished one or two trees, not cutting through them but splintering the whole thing like they were nothing but sticks.

I had to cover my eyes in order to prevent the splinters of wood and dust from blinding me as I kept moving, using the trees less as a shield and more as visual cover so I could keep moving. I turned hard as I moved behind one tree and charged straight toward the tree. I started running straight up the trunk and managed to get about halfway up before I felt it begin to shift, losing its support as Berserker destroyed it like he was woodchipper. I leapt off of the tree as it neared a forty-five degree angle, landing on a thicker branch of a nearby tree before continuing to move through the barren treetops.

I was able to keep away from Berserker like that for a bit, by the time he'd demolished the tree I was on I'd be leaping to another. Unfortunately there were only so many trees in the park, and I had to stay well away from the perimeter where Argo and her runes were, so it wasn't long before I found myself back on the ground, with the only stumps and chunks of wood nearby.

Now I was facing Berserker in open terrain, nothing to hide behind or duck around to try and avoid him. That only left me with one option.

Berserker paused for a moment, watching me for a moment to see what I'd do now that my ability to avoid him was gone. In that moment I charged straight towards him, dual blades lashing out continuously in a barrage of swings, stabs, cuts, and blows that flowed from one to the next. Few got through and those that did inflicted little more than superficial damage to my immense enemy, but that was fine, my onslaught meant that Berserker was trapped defending, even if it was only for a bit.

If I let up in the slightest I would be crushed, and if I didn't escalate my attacks eventually Berserker would grow used to them and find some chance to counter. So I had keep escalating, going faster and faster, pushing myself further as my focus dwindled to only my opponent, my vision clouding over and I began to lose feeling in my limbs, but I still went faster.

'Kirito, I got it!' I don't know how long I had been going for but I snapped out of it when I heard Argo speak up in my mind. That was the moment Berserker had been waiting for and it was only my fast reactions that stopped him from cleaving me in half. I skidded back a few meters, my boots leaving trenches in the dirt as I remembered why exactly I had been fighting.

I ran back at Berserker, Elucidator raised for a swing, and the memory of my previous onslaught had the Servant on the defensive. Then I ran past him without pause, within seconds I was out of the park.

'Left!' I didn't think simply moved, obeying the direction Argo had sent me. It was a few blocks before I heard her again, telling me to go right this time.

* * *

"Saber is leaving!?" I spoke up standing straight as I did. My eyes traced the Servant, moving fast enough that he was nothing more than a black blur in the night with Berserker giving chase, every step by the Minotaur would've caused the ground to shake if I had been close enough to feel it but it wasn't enough and the space between the two steadily grew larger.

I heard Rin through the radio again, and I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll pursue while you and Archer investigate. Just be careful we're probably not be the only observers and others might want to check out the battlefield too." I paused again as Rin talked before nodding and stowing the radio in a pocket.

After taking a moment I started dashing, running to the edge of the building I'd been on before jumping to the roof of the next one over. It was fortunate that Saber seemed to be moving closer because I don't think I'd have been able to catch up to him otherwise.

* * *

Archer and I picked our way around splintered logs and stumps, Fuyuki Central Park had never been a particularly nice place, a side effect of Angra Mainyu's corruption having soaked the earth here, but after Saber and Berserker's battle it was even worse, a reminder of the destructive power of Servants since this had been done without even using Noble Phantasms.

Suspiciously enough though there was a ring of trees still intact, near the perimeter of the park. That meant one of two things, either Saber was trying to contain the fight to the park and didn't want to risk getting that close to the edge, or there was something in the area he didn't want destroyed.

"Master, someone is here." My eyes snapped to Archer as she manifested next to me. She had been astralized as a form of concealment earlier but if someone else was here she might need to fight any second.

"Another Servant? Assassin maybe?" My eyes scanned the few standing trees trying to see something.

"No, they aren't a Servant, likely a magus particularly skilled in hiding themselves. But they will not hide from the best huntress in all of Greece." I nodded, reminding myself that even greater than her skill as an archer Atalanta was a hunter.

"Where?" My Servant began walking and I took that as a cue to follow. She brought me towards a set of untouched trees, except for the fact that they were still standing nothing seemed exceptional or out of place with them.

"It would be best if you came out of your own volition." Archer spoke up, and then there was a moment of silence before I caught a glimpse of some motion behind one of the trees. A small girl came out from behind it, wearing a long brown coat with the hood up that concealed most of her features, what really caught my attention was her right hand, three command seals on it, one already glowing.

"Make a move and I summon Saber." That confirmed it, this girl was Saber's Master, and it really couldn't get any worse than that. It was one thing to ask Atalanta to fight another Servant who simply looked like a child, but to kill an actual child even if they were a magus and a Master, that wasn't going to happen without a command seal, and if I were to use one or do it myself it would cause major problems between us in the future.

"I suppose we won't need to give you any introductions then will we?" I crossed my arms as I spoke, trying to keep the girl talking and perhaps distract her enough that I could blast her with an incapacitating Fin shot.

The girl paused for a second, eyeing the both of us. "No, you won't, you're Rin Tohsaka and Archer." She was particularly focused on Atalanta, not surprising since this was probably the first time she or her Master had gotten a good look at her. I almost wished she was still astralized but I didn't want her to do it now since Saber's Master might take the chance to summon Saber.

"I don't suppose you could give us an introduction then?" The girl's eyes snapped to me as I spoke and I noted the calculating look in her gaze.

"You can call me Argo." I almost tsked at the reply but held myself back. It was the same pseudonym that Saber had given Shirou on the first night, useless beyond the connection to greece, something that had already been established by the runes she'd used.

"It does not seem fair to hide your own name while you know my Master's." Archer spoke up, her tone almost chiding.

"The Grail Wars are far from fair." As Argo spoke I noted something beyond the calculating look in her eyes, she was distracted. I was about to comment on it when I felt everything shift.

* * *

'Take the next right.' I didn't reply or slow as I turned, kicking off the curb to redirect my momentum as I moved. The world was blurring around me as I ran faster than I had ever before. 'Left.' Argo spoke again and I turned. The rumbling shaking earth as Berserker chased growing more distant.

'Shit.' Argo spoke up again and I slowed for a moment in surprise.

'Is something wrong?' Concern flowed in my mind as I ran, getting back up to my former speed.

'Don't worry about it, you're almost there. Next right, then straight ahead.' I followed the directions and it was seconds before I saw my objective. A woman, pale skinned with long violet hair and a red-pink ribbon on the left side of her head. She was standing in the middle of the intersection, and after a glimpse I managed to spot the command seals on the back of her left hand.

Elucidator cut an arc through the air as I passed her and I felt the minor resistance as I cut her arm off a bit below the elbow. I spun around, looking to spot the severed limb and retrieve it when I saw things weren't going quite as planned. The hand had been cut off, but rather than flying off in a arc it was once again attached to the rest of the woman's body. Not by flesh as it should be, but by insect like creatures that had burrowed themselves into each end of the open wound. As I watched the insects drew the two pieces back together until they were touching, a moment later and the only sign that the woman had ever been wounded was the blood coating her arm.

I stared in shock for a moment before I was forced into action by the sound of slicing air. I lept to the side as two blades of black and white buried themselves in the pavement where I had been standing. My eyes snapped up the man who'd thrown them as Emiya charged down the street, new swords appearing in his hands as fast as he threw them.

I began knocking them aside as I charged, I knew the strange way his blades would curve through the air and how they were drawn to one another, if I stood in one place it'd be all too easy for him to lay a trap.

As I knocked another pair of the swords away I heard the thundering of Berserker as he approached and I grew concerned, the plan would've had me gone by now, carrying away the only source of Berserker's prana and disappearing into the night.

'Argo, I didn't get the command seals, Emiya is trying to kill me again and now Berserker is here, what do I do?' I fell back on Argo to decide, she was supposed to be my Master after all, while I continued deflecting sword after sword.

'Sorry, busy. But I might need to call you here soon.' I suppressed the confusion that arose at that, focusing instead on the battle I was still fighting, glad that Berserker had stayed out of things for some reason.

My mind was running a thousand thoughts a second as I tried to better figure out how they were moving. Numbers ran through my head as I factored in the approximate weight of the blades, how much force they seemed to be imparting on each other and they ways they were flying even as Emiya continued to add more weapons to the mix. The conclusion I came to was terrifying. The whole thing was a trap.

I turned immediately, sprinting backwards as I knocked blades away with a new purpose, to disturb the swarm. I could see the shock on Emiya's face as he realized what I was doing but he quickly began to corrected. Creating and throwing new swords to better align them, and any that I knocked far enough off to cause him a problem disappeared. But I was still slowing him and learning more about the swords as we fought, how to better disrupt their paths.

My attention split when Berserker's Master began to speak though, and it may have been the fact that Emiya's attention split as well that saved me. The words she spoke came out garbled and twisted, as if her lungs and vocal cords weren't working as they should but were being forced to speak regardless.

"bY tHE powER of THis comMAND seAL, i ORder yOU, USe yoUR nOblE PHanTASm." Still coated in blood her left arm raised and Berserker spoke next after a flash of red light and a guttural roar.

"Stray...wander...die...DIE!" I felt the world shift under me, Berserker and his Master disappeared from my sight, the swords Emiya had been throwing vanished as well, and then the whole world disappeared. After a moment the only thing around me was Emiya as the two of us were trapped in a corridor of stone.

 **AN: Bit of a cliffhanger but I can promise to get the next chapter out in a couple weeks so you won't have to wait two long. For those of you that missed it, either because you don't know fate that well or because you were reading too fast Berserker's Master is Sakura, this, along with the rest of the Servant and Master identities, has been planned since chapter 1. There's actually a few hints that Sakura was involved and one that she was Berserker's Master throughout the story already, but most of them are so minor I'm not surprised no one mentioned them in the reviews.**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: Alright, I'm back. Sorry about the unplanned hiatus, long story short my dog got sick and died, and while I was trying to get back into the swing of things this wasn't exactly a priority.**

 **But about the story, chapter 5 is here and with it we're coming up on something of a halfway point, granted the second half of this story is probably going to be longer than the first half but when I was planning the story this was about the halfway point for the events I had scheduled.**

 **This chapter is as close to an even split along character perspectives as we're likely to get for this story and that was both both intentionally and unintentionally. I have been trying the whole story to have as much Shirou/Rin as Argo/Kirito but that hasn't worked for reasons I mentioned before.**

 **This time it does work! Yippee!**

 **Anyway, that's it, enjoy the chapter next one shouldn't take nearly as long, a week at the soonest two at the most.**

 **See ya!**

I flinched a bit as I felt the world shift but righted myself immediately, my Command Seal still glowing, I had to be prepared to pull Kirito here. A moment of weakness would be all it took for Tohsaka's Servant to kill me.

'Kii-bou, what the hell just happened?' I directed my thoughts to Kirito even as I kept most of my attention on the two in front of me. My attention wandered just a little bit as I realized we were in a giant stone corridor, the whole thing lit by torches on both walls every ten meters or so, rather than the ruined park we should've been in.

'Berserker used his Noble Phantasm.' I felt shock run through me, his Noble Phantasm had caused all of this? But we were over a kilometer away! 'Berserker and his Master are gone, but Emiya is here still. We're having a bit of a standoff.' I grumbled a bit mentally.

'That makes two of us.' I could feel the surprise radiating from my bond with Kirito, followed by a moment of realization. 'Yeah, I'm staring Tohsaka and Archer in the face.'

'Shit, what do we do?' That was a very good question and one I was still trying to answer.

"You know what happened." My attention snapped to Tohsaka at the accusation, something of my conversation with Kii-bou must have slipped showed on my face.

"Eh, kind of." I decided there was nothing wrong with telling her what I knew, not with how little it was and since it dealt more with an enemy Servant than my own. "Saber says that Berserker triggered his Noble Phantasm." I paused for a second as I looked at Tohsaka's face, she was a magus after all so I wasn't sure how much this would matter to her but it was really my only option here.

"Saber's with Emiya by the way, if you kill me Saber kills Emiya." I knew that Kirito could hear me, I was purposefully transmitting everything to him right now, I expected an internal grimace or some displeasure from the swordsman. That wasn't what I got.

'Good plan. Tell her I'll try to find her too before I run out of prana.' I did my best to keep the shock out of my expression as he spoke but I did blink for a second.

"You act as if I should care about that." I could feel the cold radiating off of my fellow Master at that statement. But she was a magus, the only thing more natural to us than cold blood was lying.

"You've been with him ever since you first showed up at Clocktower, some say you were already dating when the Grail War started and that's why you allied. You're really telling me you had a twenty year long relationship and you're just gonna let him die?" I could hear the woman tsk and knew I had her. It was then I heard something unexpected. The crackle of bad radio signal.

"Ri- there? I'm wi- ber. The- rinth- Aster- tasm." Tohsaka began ignoring me for a second and pulled a two way radio out of the folds of her skirt. I didn't take this as a moment of weakness since Archer was still staring at me as well, and though there was a bit of softness in her gaze I had no doubts that any attempt to kill her Master or call Kirito here would end poorly.

Tohsaka meanwhile seemed to have given up on the radio entirely and was fiddling with a gem, an amethyst by the looks of it. "Shirou, can you hear me? Damnit, something always has to go wrong."

"Master, this is likely the reason Shirou wanted you to be near one of us at all times, he was aware this could happen." My eyebrows shot up as Archer spoke.

"Emiya knew about this thing? Wait, then does that mean his axes are Berserker's Noble Phantasm?" I looked at the walls, ignoring the annoyed sound Tohsaka made. A giant man, a huge building of stone hallways, a bull mask. Not a building, a labyrinth, The Labyrinth. "The Minotaur."

"Yes, Berserker's true identity is Asterios, the Minotaur, and his Noble Phantasm is the Labyrinth, his axes are apparently connected to it somehow. Shirou couldn't find out much." Tohsaka shot me a dirty look for a second. "Why am I telling you any of this anyway? I should just have Archer hold you down while I take your Command Seals." My right arm shot up and my seals flashed red.

"You're assuming The Labyrinth won't let me call Saber here, and even if I can't I can still have him kill Emiya." Rin paused for a second but it was only the one.

"Shirou can take care of himself long enough for me to take the seals and issue a new command." I felt myself back up a bit instinctively and I started scrambling for something to stop this.

"Even against Saber's Noble Phantasm?" That one brought the other magus up short, and she paused staring at me. Of course this was complete bullshit, Kirito still didn't know how to use any Noble Phantasm that had any deadly effects, but only him and I knew that.

We stared each other in the eyes for a moment, each of us had played all of our cards already and if one of us moved both of us would risk losing. It was a classic staredown with no easy way out, a least not until Archer spoke up.

"Master, we are stranded inside of an enemy Servant's Noble Phantasm and our only ally is also trapped somewhere far from us alone with another foe." I could see the annoyance on Tohsaka's face as her Servant spoke the obvious.

"I know that, so what's your point?" I had the same question, but there was no way I'd be asking that to an enemy Servant.

"I believe this is a good time for a temporary alliance." My eyes shot fully open and I didn't even try to keep the shock off my face. Allying with Tohsaka, Emiya, and Archer, the idea left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth after the couple of times we'd tried to kill each other but at the same time Magus were always trying to kill each other.

"Your Servant is right." I lowered my hand as I spoke, though the Command Seals were still glowing. "If we fight here we both lose, and I'm not comfortable trying to take on Berserker alone inside his Labyrinth, our best option is ally up until we're either out of here or Berserker is dead." The other magus eyed me briefly in consideration before scoffing and looking away.

"Fine, we can be allies for now. I don't trust you but I'm willing to cooperate." Now it was my turn to scoff.

"If you trusted another magus that easily I'd have second thoughts about allying with you too." I directed my thoughts inward for a moment. 'Are you okay with this Kii-bou?' Kirito had been strangely silent during this time and even if I was supposed to be the Master our relationship was a little different from the normal, closer to partners than anything.

'Yeah, it's our best option really, with the two of us separated even if Tohsaka was willing to leave us alone you'd be in too much danger. Plus the extra help against Berserker will be a big deal.' I nodded in understanding before looking back to Tohsaka for a moment.

"We should move, I don't know if there's a way out of here other than killing Berserker but standing here all day won't do any good." I paused as the Master of Archer shot me a dirty look that I could only shrug in response to, delicacy was never my forte.

"If there's anything you want to tell Emiya before we go Saber can relay a message." Tohsaka opened her mouth, clearly prepared to tell me off before she paused a moment.:

"Tell that idiot he better not die."

* * *

"She says good luck and be careful." I simply stared at Saber, and it must've been a pretty dead stare because a moment later he walked his words back. "Well, she said you better not die and called you an idiot, but it's pretty much the same thing." I could only sigh, because when it came to Rin they really were the same thing.

My eyes drifted back to the Servant I found myself allied with, this was the closest I'd been to him while we weren't actively trying to kill each other and it still shocked me how young he appeared. He looked even younger than I was when I fought in the Fifth Grail War, and while it wasn't impossible for Servants to appear younger it was strange. A Servant should appear in the physical form that represents their peak, most of the time this meant Servants would be in their mid or late twenties, maybe a decade or more older, since that would be their physical prime, the time when their bodies were as strong as they could get.

Occasionally they'd appear older, mainly Casters who grew wiser and more powerful with age or Assassins who became more skilled and deadly, but Servants like Saber and Lancer relied more on physical prowess then wisdom, which is what made this Saber so strange. The boy was strong enough to face Berserker, fast enough to dodge and block my arrows, skilled enough to push past EMIYA's and my unique way of fighting with Kanshou and Bakuya, and had either the instincts or smarts to counter the Triple-Linked Crane Wings by stopping my setup.

Granted, these are all things that could've been said about her as well, all these things and far more in fact. But that was the thing, my Saber had never been all that open about her age, and Avalon meant that no sign of aging had actually appeared on her body, but I knew from the history of her weapon that she had ruled for decades, and unless this Saber also had a similar artifact of nigh immortality he couldn't have been alive for even two decades

"Do you have a plan?" The question snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked back to the black clad Saber.

"Excuse me?" I spoke out in confusion, my eyebrows crinkling.

"I just thought that since you'd fought in one of these wars before you might have a better idea of how to go about all of this." He waved his hand through the air, indicating the tunnels we found ourselves in.

"I do have a few ideas." I relented a bit and took a step forwards before pausing and taking a deep breath as I shut my eyes. I could feel Saber's gaze on me but I ignored it, submerged in my own world as I brought to mind that weapon. "This way." My eyes snapped open and I started walking, noting the pause before Saber fell into step behind me.

"Do you know where you're going or are we just following the left-hand rule?" It took me a moment to realize what he was a referring to, a standard method of solving a maze, following the left hand path at every intersection and only doubling back to take the other option when you hit a dead end. It, along with the right-hand rule, were the most brute force methods of solving a maze, equivalent to figuring out a four digit password by guessing every number starting with 0001.

"No, I can get a good layout of the Labyrinth from Asterios' axe but if I don't hold the image in mind it'll fade, so we need to move now." I continued walking for a moment before I noticed that Saber had stopped following.

"That's dangerous, reckless, and stupid. Just because you have a map doesn't mean the way forwards is safe." I paused for a moment and looked back at the boy. "If we advance too quickly we could run into something we're not prepared to deal with." I felt myself bristle at his words. I knew I had a bit of a reckless streak but I liked to think that had been tempered by experience, and that at least this time it was justified.

"So what? We just sit here and wait? We need to move before I lose the map." I stared at the Servant challengingly. The only reason I was able to pull up the structure of the Labyrinth so easy this time was because of all the time had spent reviewing it during the day. If I lost it now I'd have to work my way through all of that again, and that'd take time. Time we didn't have.

Saber seemed to understand this, or at least some of it from the conflicted look on his face. Then he spoke up and that look was gone. "What are the directions?" I balked for a moment, did he want to memorize the directions? Impossible, he was clearly underestimating the Labyrinth.

"Left, right, right, left, center, second from the right, left, center, third from the left, fifth on the left, left, right, center, third from the right, second on the left, eighth on the right, left, center, left, right, right, left, fifth on the left, second on the right, left." I gave the Servant a flat look as he squinted a bit. He was probably overwhelmed by the directions I gave.

"One more time." My eye twitched for a moment, it wasn't easy holding the map in my mind, I was essentially holding the blueprint for a weapon, except it wasn't a weapon and was larger than any sword in my marble, including Ig Alima.

"Left, right, right, left, center, second from the right, left, center, third from the left, fifth on the left, left, right, center, third from the right, second on the left, eighth on the right, left, center, left, right, right, left, fifth on the left, second on the right, left." My eyebrows rose as I thought I'd won. If he asked a third time I'd simply ignore him and keep moving.

"Alright, I got it." The Servant of the sword brushed past me, drawing one of his swords and grabbing a torch off the wall as he passed. "I'll take point, stay behind me and stick close." My eyes went wide for a moment before I shook off my surprise and followed. This was a Heroic Spirit after all.

* * *

Despite my best attempts to keep myself calm I could feel the tension running through my body, my head was on a swivel as I tried to keep aware of potential enemies. Atalanta was on point and she'd find any enemies long before I could but I was still pretty on edge about all this, and honestly Saber's Master wasn't helping either.

*click*

I felt my teeth grind as she made that noise once again. I had expected the small girl, 'Argo' supposedly, to keep her distance from me and Archer, and while that would have been annoying and had me worrying she'd try to back stab me it would have been preferable to this.

*click*

I could feel my own annoyance being amplified by Archer's through our bond. Atalanta had been leading us through the Labyrinth, not out of any ability to navigate it but because she would be able to detect and deal with enemies the best and had been capable of disarming the numerous traps we encountered. When I asked her about she simply replied that 'any hunter skilled in using traps should be capable of detecting and disarming them as well'. The Servant hid her annoyance better than me but the fact that Argo might be giving away our position to enemies had her on edge.

*click*

"Will you stop that already?" I snapped at the girl as I hit my breaking point, I could feel the way my twintails snapped behind me as my neck cracked at the sudden movement. My glare was so intense that I could almost feel my prana react as I tried to drill holes into Argo, the cheeky brat just raised one eyebrow.

"Sorry bout the noise but I ain't gonna stop." I could feel the indignation rise as she flippantly dismissed me but even as I opened my mouth the girl kept talking. "I'm using some magecraft to try and map this place out and the clicking is kinda necessary." The girl paused and made that clicking noise with her mouth again. I was too stunned to speak up and after a short pause Argo spoke up again.

"But damn this place is big, even after all this time I've still only found four dead ends." I felt a mixture of embarrassment and anger, now that I was looking for it I could feel the small bit of prana the girl was exerting in each click, I had missed it earlier because of how much prana was in this labyrinth.

The anger was because- "While it is good to have you mapping out the area as we move you really should have told me before using your magecraft to do as such." The girl simply blinked for a second before shrugging off my concerns.

"It's only natural to map out the dungeon as you move, I've just been cheating a little." She clicked again, and I found it rather less annoying this time, before pulling a rolled up piece of paper from her coat. I realized as she unrolled it that it was a map of the Labyrinth, strangely with a pouch of ink attached to the edge of the paper.

Argo gave me a look with narrowed eyes as she continued speaking. "It's a mystic code, tied to the mystery I've been using, the map is drawn automatically and while I know the layout as soon as I click that doesn't help me to remember the layout or show others. I won't be explaining how it works for obvious reasons." I nodded in understanding, even under our temporary alliance there was no way we'd share any more of our magecraft than absolutely necessary. It was almost refreshing to be dealing with a real magus after dragging that idiot along last war.

Besides, it wasn't like I couldn't figure out some of it on my own, it was almost obvious the spell was based on part on echolocation from the clicking noise, and while that didn't tell me much about how the map was made it was enough to figure out a few methods to block or confuse the mysteries results.

A finger tapped a point on the map and Argo spoke up as she dragged her pointer finger across the page. "This is where we started, we've been walking for about half an hour but we still haven't run into anyone else. That brings up two questions, 'Just how big is this place?' and 'Who else is actually in here?'." I nodded, understanding the girl's point before speaking up myself.

"Since this is a Noble Phantasm and the Labyrinth itself it's safe to assume it's pretty big, and we know that Shirou and Saber are here at least, and it'd be safe to assume that Berserker and his Master are here as well." I saw the little nod Argo gave before she asked the expected question.

"So that brings up the question of how it chose who to bring here. If it requires LOS then it'd just be Saber and Emiya." I gave the girl a strange look for the unusual term and after a moment she explained. "Line of Sight. Anyway there have to be some qualifiers for who gets pulled into this thing or we'd be seeing a lot of civvies right now." I blinked for a second before nodding in understanding.

"Perhaps it only pulls beings who have enough prana in their system?"

"No, I don't know about you but I had familiars in the area, while they aren't high cost at least some of them would've been caught up in that kinda thing, yet they're all still back in Fuyuki." I blinked for a second, Archer hadn't detected any familiars so they must've been well concealed but I shrugged that off as a concern for once we were out of here. I didn't tend to use familiars but I did have a few watching the Tohsaka manor and the Emiya house. Nothing abnormal, just empty houses.

"Then perhaps it is some level of foreknowledge, or simply Asterios' current opponents who are grabbed?" Even as I spoke up I realized a few holes in that theory.

"No, Emiya never attacked Berserker so he shouldn't have been strictly an 'enemy', and while he or his Master would've at least known about you and Archer there's no way he would've known about me beyond 'Saber's Master'." Argo paused again and clicked once more, squinting as she eyed the way the drawing of the map expanded to show new territory. As she did I came to realization.

"What if the Labyrinth simply pulled anyone who was an 'enemy in battle', regardless of where they were and how much Berserker knew about them. Normally this would be whoever he is currently fighting, but in a Grail War it would be the six remaining Masters and Servants." I saw the way Argo's eyes widened and I could almost hear her thoughts speed up.

"Yeah, that could even explain Emiya, since he's been fighting in the war already and has shown himself strong enough to fight Servants Berserker would easily think of him as an enemy too." The girl gave me a sideways look as her expression hardened in a way I wouldn't expect from someone that young, not even a magus, a look that said she'd faced not only death but also battle before. "You know what that means right?" I nodded solemnly.

"We're stuck here with the other four Servants too." Argo nodded slowly before she paused and perked up as she clicked. Her widening eyes told me something unexpected happened and it was less than a second later that my answer came.

"Contact!"

* * *

I paused and held the torch I'd nabbed high as I stared at what should've been just another innocuous stone brick in the floor, but there were a few things that stood out to me, it would've been hidden in the darker spot directly between two torches if I wasn't holding my own. The stone was raised higher than the others for one, just a millimeter or two but with my enhanced eyesight it was noticeable. There was also a bit more of gap between it and the stones next to it, as if it wasn't placed as tightly as the other stones, and lastly was the dust and dirt in the gap, there wasn't any, or at least not nearly as much as I'd expect.

I took a moment to back up till I was almost twenty meters away, before tossing the torch in my left hand forwards. It hit the ground around half a meter from the stone in question and rolled the rest of the way there. As soon as the torch hit it my view was blocked by a new wall, one that fell from the ceiling between me and the torch. The wall started to raise itself up to reveal that it was a solid piece of stone ten meters thick, what had once been a metal torch with a lit flame was now nothing more than a flattened piece of iron, about as thick as my hand, with charcoal and ashes spilling out of one end.

I moved over to the nearest wall and grabbed a new torch, my fourth one so far, and continued walking, Emiya falling into place behind me. "You're fairly skilled at finding these traps, are you experienced with them?" The white haired man spoke up behind me and I tossed his question around in my head for a bit. He was obviously fishing for information but it should be obvious that I'd dealt with traps before, plus due to my origins being a literal game my identity would be near impossible for a magus to discover.

"Yeah, I'm pretty used to exploring dungeons like this, and there's nothing worse than dying because you didn't check for traps." I almost cringed as I thought of my former guild but I kept it from showing. Traps weren't common in Aincrad, and on the earlier floors they didn't exist at all, but while it wasn't expected for even dungeons on the front line to have them no one would've been surprised to encounter one.

Most were fairly simple, meant to debilitate with debuffs or force you into difficult encounters. They'd spell trouble for a party unprepared to deal with them and could lead to deaths but a party wipe only occurred in the worst of situations. However I was a solo player, and while one player being paralyzed or poisoned in a party of up to seven wasn't too bad if I got paralyzed in a fight I was dead, simple as that, and any encounter meant to be difficult for a full party would be near impossible for a solo. That meant the ability to detect and disarm traps had been invaluable to a solo player like myself.

"Is that why you were able to memorize the directions so quickly?" Emiya probably wasn't completely satisfied with my first answer, though his even tone mean I couldn't be sure. Regardless he simply went and asked another.

"Kind of, I've always had pretty good memory, and there's not always time to pull out your map, especially if you're trying to avoid a fight, so you have to at least know the way out." I paused and decided to try and turn the tables a bit.

"You got all those directions from just Berserker's axes right? That's some pretty crazy detail." I didn't look back as I spoke, instead pausing to note a tripwire going across the floor, it was way too obvious. I turned and looked around before kneeling and grimacing at what I found. Tiny holes in the stone, I motioned and Emiya followed as we backtracked.

"My magecraft is rather specialized, I can do little outside of bladed weapons, but when it comes to such things there is no one more skilled." I looked down to the ground and noted where the holes ended, we went another ten meters before I paused at an issue. We were too far away, while I could throw the torch that far there was no guarantee that I'd hit the wire. "Allow me." Emiya spoke up and took a step forward standing in front of me, a flick of his arm and a knife was sent flying, it reached the wire and cut through, an instant later needles came out all across the floor, hundreds of them, each only a millimeter wide and ten centimeters long, with a clear fluid coating them.

"No one more skilled huh." I muttered as we continued, returning to our earlier conversation. "I guess that makes what Argo did to my swords all the more impressive." I smiled as I said it, that girl had already been amazing with her skills as an information broker but to find out she was a magus and that good of one too was just astounding.

I heard grunt and my eyes widened as I realized that Emiya sounded, annoyed of all things. I couldn't keep a soft chuckle down but that just made him more upset. "To find out there's a way of blocking my most basic magecraft and the mystery I'm the most skilled at is, vexing." He seemed to chew on the words as he spoke them, it was almost surprising how much this was eating at him, the way he fought and moved had been so mechanically I'd started to wonder if he was actually one of those artificial humans Argo had mentioned.

"Hmm, what's really strange is that you not only figured out who Berserker was from his axes but remembered so much about them that you were able to figure out directions for this Labyrinth." I kept my voice fairly even as I spoke but there was a lightly accusatory tone. I didn't know much about magecraft but I did know that wasn't normal.

"Do you really expect me to answer that?" There was an edge to his voice, the words carried a threat of violence though it was one I knew he didn't intend to carry out. I simply shrugged.

"Worth a shot." I paused for a second before considering something, I dry swallowed as my tongue danced across my mouth before speaking. "Probably should have asked this earlier, but where exactly are we going?" After all, we wouldn't be leaving the Labyrinth without Argo and Tohsaka, and I kind of doubted Emiya knew where they were. I heard Emiya give a rather loud scoff and despite the fact he couldn't see my face I smiled impishly.

"The only place that Asterios would be."

* * *

"What do we do?" I looked between Tohsaka and her Servant as I asked the question. Normally I'd take more involvement in the decision but Archer was our main battle power here and Tohsaka would know her Servant's limits and abilities better than me.

"What do we know about the 'contact' you found?" Archer spoke as she shared a look with her Master, I was fairly certain she was talking with Tohsaka through their link but I didn't push it. I made another click with my mouth, pausing as the information rushed to my brain, sound waves being converted into useable information by the magecraft I was using, while most would have trouble deciphering it all, the map being intended mainly as a crutch for them, my near eidetic memory combined with my time as an information broker made it much easier, unfortunately that didn't help here.

"I'm being blocked." I ground out the words, a little peeved off that someone was blocking my magecraft on their first exposure to it. This wasn't a particularly complex spell, or rather the complex spell was converting information that would normally only be useful to a bat or dolpinh to something a human could use, the greatest advantage was how difficult it was for someone to even realize I was even using a mystery.

"Probably Caster or Assassin then, though it could be a Servant with Magic Resistance depending on how the mystery works." Tohsaka gave me a look as she spoke and I shook my head without worry. There was no point hiding this much from her, the Tohsaka head was smart enough to realize how my mystery worked, and skilled enough that she'd have a counter to it worked out by the next night, if we survived that long.

"Magic Resistance wouldn't effect it at all. It could be another Servant but they'd have to possess special attributes to interfere with my magecraft." I didn't bother to specify what those attributes were, Tohsaka would either figure it out on her own or wouldn't, it wasn't important. I paused for a second and clicked, before clicking my tongue again, this time in annoyance.

"They're coming this way, I don't know if they're tracking us or if it's coincidence but we need to make a decision." Archer shared another glance with Tohsaka before speaking aloud this time.

"If they are truly tacking us we don't want to risk getting trapped between them and another enemy, and if it's Assassin or Caster, here in this confined space with nowhere to hide or prepare traps I may have the advantage." I looked over to Tohsaka, we shared a look before I nodded and the woman spoke.

"It's decided then."

* * *

Saber and I paused as we walked into the room, the largest open space I'd been able to identify within the Labyrinth, an immense dome over fifteen meters high and with a radius over thirty. It was the perfect battlefield for a Servant as large as Asterios and as expected he was here standing in the center of it.

Of course, while the Servant was here the Master was not, I wasn't too sure what kind of state Sakura was in beyond 'not good' but if she or Zouken actually intended to win this war she wouldn't stand here with Berserker waiting for enemies. It didn't matter though, I just needed to kill Berserker and then the Labyrinth would dissipate, I could find Sakura and help her then.

Unfortunately killing Berserker was easier said then done, fortunately I had one of the best Servant classes in the war on my side to help me do it, one who had shown himself capable of going toe to toe with the monster of the Labyrinth already.

Speaking of Saber the black clad youth had stopped next to me, tossing the torch in his left hand aside in favor of drawing his blue blade. It was a strange feeling to meet another who preferred dual wielding swords, even if our styles of doing so were drastically different. I wasn't surprised that a Heroic Spirit was capable of doing such things without resorting to the same cheap tricks as me, but despite how rare it was to use two swords I was having a lot of trouble figuring out his identity.

Even with the magecraft his Master had placed on his swords it shouldn't have been too difficult to identify Saber, after all I simply needed to match his swords with ones that were in the Bladeworks, and EMIYA had done such a wonderful job collecting swords in his tenure as a Counter Guardian that swords he, and I by extension didn't posses, were a rarity.

Yet despite that I couldn't identify either sword, making Saber's origins an even greater mystery. I tossed that line of thought aside as Asterios shifted in front of me, dragging his axes across the ground as he turned to face Saber and I.

"Shirou and... Saber here now." The huge man spoke slowly but even that much was impressive for a Berserker. "I, impressed... you reach here. Now... you die!" And with a roar he charged.

Saber and I both reacted at the same moment, as Saber charged forwards with his own deep shout and I dashed to the side, tracing the black bow and a metal arrow to fire. Saber and I had a brief conversation about strategy but in the end it was rather simple.

The Servant would keep Berserker busy, doing his best to parry and block his blows, while I took every chance I got to wound and kill the giant, mainly through archery and possibly attacking with my blades if his back was open. I didn't understand why Saber had called it dee-pee-ess but I understood the idea fairly easily.

I fired my first shot, aiming for some nerves in the left arm that should have left the limb weak, of course the Minotaur simply ignored the arrow and kept swinging at the flurry of black and blue that was Saber. I didn't want to use swords so early in the fight, since they cost more prana and breaking them was just as likely to injure Saber as Berserker, and while I wasn't completely opposed to both Servants dying here Rin would have to use a command seal to stop Archer from killing me if I shot our temporary ally in the back.

Three more shots came, one getting lost in Berserker's white mane like hair another stuck out of his shoulder and the last skidded ineffectively along the iron mask he wore, I'd been aiming for an eye hole but Berserker moved too quickly and erratically in a fight like this for such a shot to work.

A Traced Noble Phantasm might help, but most of my weapons would require me trying to get up close and getting in between those two right now would be a death sentence, something like Gae Bolg might work but that weapon largely relied on luck and mine wasn't worth putting to the test.

The next arrow was flooded with prana and broken, and while taking it to the side of the head caused the Servant to flinch a bit it only meant that this time Saber dealt an ineffective blow, a cut along the side that should have sliced open a lung did nothing but make the Berserker more angry.

I clicked my teeth together as I tried crippling his leg this time, this was going to be a long fight.

* * *

I breathed in slowly through my nose before letting it out through my mouth, it was an exercise I had adopted from Shirou, and while it wasn't necessary for me to use my magecraft it was good for helping me to focus before a fight.

I had been prepared from birth for the idea that I might die for my magecraft, and while that had included the possibility of dying in a Grail War as a Tohsaka I still didn't have nearly as much battle experience as Shirou. Sure, I had gone on a fair number of his excursions with him and fought in all of them, but in the end I was still a research magus, one prepared to fight in the Grail Wars but I still spent more time in my workshop than on a battlefield, so a bit of mental preparation before we faced down the mystery Servant Argo had detected would go a long way.

Archer of course had no such issues, but it was Argo that surprised me. Despite being so obviously young she seemed fully prepared to fight, though she might just be that good at hiding it I wasn't so sure on that. Ever since she said that we'd been getting close a few minutes ago she had been visibly on edge, she'd stopped clicking and was hunched over, her fingers flexing in a way that reminded of Shirou and made me question if she was used to wielding weapons.

I sensed a flare up from my bond with Archer and stopped my footsteps even as Atalanta did, Saber's master less than a second behind. Almost fifty meters ahead I saw them, two men walking out of one hall into the one we'd been walking through for the last five minutes or so. The two only shared two traits their gender and height, the both of them being nearly the same height, only a bit shorter than Shirou.

One was dressed in what I'd best describe as a utilitarian outfit, brown long coat with a raised collar, black skin tight shirt underneath and black jeans. He had bright blond hair and was clearly an American, I made special note of the gun stock peeking off of his back, though I did note a suspicious shape on his right hip and how the pockets of his coat were likely deep. The other was of far more interest though.

Dark brown reddish skin, long braided hair black as my own, white tribal paint, bead necklace, large feathers hanging off his hip, everything about the man screamed native american. Even his black pants made from what was likely animal leather, and while his chest was bare I didn't take that as a sign of weakness, armor was rarely effective or necessary for Servants anyway.

"Well, I suppose introductions are in order." The blonde spoke up, taking a long drag off a cigarette I only now noticed he had before tossing it to the ground and stomping on it. "Name's Drew Spenser, and this is Caster, don't expect much more than that, and while I could probably guess at least two of your names I'd rather ya just tell me." The man spoke in an accent that confirmed he was American, and in a gruff sort of manner than told me something of his background.

"Tohsaka Rin and Archer." My eyes narrowed as I tried to remember where I'd heard his name. "Don't expect anything more than that." Despite the somewhat playful nature of my words my tone was flat and serious. I'd heard his name before, I just needed to figure out why.

"Drew Spenser, born in Wyoming works out of Boston as a detective outside of the moonlight world. Freelancer known for unusual mysteries in tandem with firearms as well as using bounded fields as traps. Gained relevance in early 2017 as a man willing to follow through on the Magus Killer's strategies and succeeded in killing a Dead Apostle using a Bounded Field to restrain him and an M134G minigun enchanted so it wouldn't overheat. Dead Apostle died when it ran out of prana to heal its body and while it's unknown at what point it died fifteen thousand rounds were fired over nearly five minutes of sustained fire."

"The little missy sure knows her stuff." The man, Spenser, seemed to be both proud and annoyed at Argo's words, and I simply found myself impressed. That did explain where I'd heard his name before, due to Shirou's job as a Freelancer I tended to keep a list of noteworthy ones, and Spenser was on that list. "You wouldn't mind telling me who you are and why you're running around with a Master and her Servant would you?" Though Spenser had both his hands in his pockets I could see the tension in his body. Looking relaxed but being ready to fight, it was a skill that came only with experience, I knew because Shirou was an expert while I was only able to recognize the difference.

"You can call me Argo, and all you need to know is that for now I'm allied with these two." I felt a bit of tension leave my body at that, I was a little worried that Argo would take the chance to ditch me and Archer, but it didn't sound like it.

"Ain't no way that's your real name." The Freelancer sighed. "And allied for now? You must be another Master then, especially because you're hiding your hands." The man looked between the three of us for a moment before speaking again. "So, you guys got any idea what the hell is going on here?"

"I can only tell you this is due to Berserker's Noble Phantasm, for any more than that we will need some assurance of a temporary ceasefire at the least." Archer spoke this time, this had been something we'd agreed on at the very beginning, more Master Servant pairs being aware this was due to Berserker meant more people hunting the Minotaur down and attempting to end him. But giving up all our cards when there was still the possibility of this turning into a battle would just be stupid.

"Hmmm, what d'ya Caster?" My eyes snapped from the blond american to the native, noting the cunning look in his blue eyes.

"While some allies to defeat Berserker would be useful we can simply wait for someone else to kill him. I do not believe we can pass up the opportunity to eliminate two foes in the meantime." I immediately snapped into position to fight, my left hand grasping at the jewels I had hidden in my skirt pocket while my right formed a gun, reinforcement spreading through my body.

Archer was faster, already several arrows had been fired, but I noted Caster wave his hand as he chanted. "Spirits of the earth who have guided me this far, defend us and seek bodies to attack our foes." A wave of stone raised from the ground, the arrows tearing chunks from it before three roughly humanoid bodies were formed. Large, hunched bodies with thick arms and legs that dashed forwards with deceptive speed. Even as I fired a Fin shot into one expecting it be ineffective I noted a brown blurr dart past me.

Argo's hand flashed from within her cloak and a trio of metal spikes flew out, planting themselves within the shoulder of one of the golems, the minute metal spikes didn't seem to do much but Argo didn't slow. A heart beat later the small girl was crouched in front of the golem, two gauntlets each with three steel claws extending from them covered each hand, one flashed out and sliced through a leg and as it stumbled the other stabbed it in a seemingly random place in the chest. The golem began to crumble to dust even Argo dashed back, dodging away from a swing by another enemy.

Caster continued chanting, saying something about the spirits of the wind as a gale deflected more of Atalanta's shots and pulling out a hunting bow of all things. I didn't question it though, any weapon a Servant chose to wield was automatically an extreme threat. I drew an emerald from my pocket and prepared to toss it if needed. Argo spoke up and said something to Archer though I didn't hear it over one of the golems stomping as it moved.

An instant later two arrows pierced the remaining golems and they crumbled just like the first. Caster took a moment to speak up. "Impressive, using the spikes to locate the core and then banish the spirits from their host bodies. You are a skilled fighter young one." I noticed Caster raise his bow and begin to draw an arrow, I didn't wait to see who he was targeting, simply throwing my gem.

A translucent barrier appeared in front of the three of us, a ripple forming as the wooden arrow shattered on it. A second and then a third arrow followed after, even as Caster walked forward slowly, the wind he had called earlier still deflecting Atalanta's shots. I noted too late that I'd stopped watching Spenser and I saw him crouched next to Caster, a shotgun braced against his shoulder. A soft pop echoed out, one I knew was far too quite for a mundane gun and my barrier buckled against whatever enchantment was on the shot he fired.

Atalanta fired another shot, this one far more potent than those earlier, and though it tore through wind Caster was able to lean to the side, only getting a scratch on the cheek and losing a braid of hair rather than having a new hole in his face. Spenser had finished pumping his gun and a second shot rang out, this one shattering my barrier, I would be upset about how easily such a huge investment had been destroyed by a modern magus later, for now I settled for some satisfaction noticing that Argo had been prepared to retaliate.

A line of connected steel blades flew out from behind me like a whip, snaking their way around the gun's barrel before yanking it out of his grasp. The line of steel twisted in the air, preparing to target the gun's owner this time before a stone tipped arrow pierced through the line, snapping the weapon in half.

I took the chance I saw though, replacing Argo's offensive with my own, left hand cupping my right as I fired off three Fin shots in a row, forcing the american mercenary into a roll to avoid the debilitating curse. He came out of it with a real gun in his hands, ready to fire off what I recognized as Desert Eagle when the gun was shot out of his hands by an arrow.

I noticed the shot Atalanta had to take to her side in exchange, this war's Archer was an expert with long ranged combat and using powerful shots to end an opponent from a distance. This mid ranged combat where she had to protect Argo and me wasn't her specialty, and there was no way I'd be able to talk her into abandoning the girl, not such a young child who was also our ally for the time.

* * *

I ground my teeth as I blocked another downwards swing with crossed blades, throwing the axe aside with willpower as much as strength. I ducked to the right to dodge the other axe and swerved underneath it, going between the Minotaur's legs and hamstringing them both as I passed. My attempt to cripple him was as effective as the last two times I'd tried it and I found myself using Elucidator to deflect another swing.

This wasn't going well. Yes, Emiya and I were whittling away at Aterios, the same way I'd fight a boss in Aincrad. Yes, Berserker hadn't managed to score a direct hit on me yet while his back and arms were riddled with arrows, but despite all of that here was still the same issue. This was a battle of attrition right now, and if I so much as flinched Berserker would win.

It was strangely similar to floor boss in SAO, we could attack and attack, and eventually Berserker would die to the accumulated damage, but one hit was all it would take took for me to be out of the fight. After that there was no way Emiya would be able to kill the Servant, the magus was strong for a human, and skilled and clever enough to fight Servants, but the gap in raw power between him and Asterios wasn't something that could be closed so easily.

I made a sideways hop, going over one axe as I used Dark Repulser and the other half of Labrys to change my momentum midair, flipping over the other axe in a display of acrobatics that would've been impressive even in the olympics.

I wasn't built for a battle of attrition either, my character build in SAO had been meant as DPS with enough HP to play solo and tank when absolutely necessary. Even in the rare cases I did tank it was usually as an off tank or as a pair with another forward player. Asuna and I had done that a few times, both early in the game during the first few floors and later, after we started partying up again on the 74th floor.

Then there was the Gleam Eyes.

I gave a shout and launched into Starburst Stream, no visual effect or system guidance aided me but I followed through flawlessly. Knocking Berserker off balance and giving him numerous more shallow cuts, it didn't stop him, in fact he came at me even harder after I finished the sword skill, but Servant or not there was a limit to how much blood and prana he could lose.

Gleam Eyes had been a special case amoung special cases. While it wasn't entirely true that I soloed him, since Corvatz and his men had dealt some damage and Asuna and Klein even more, it was true that I'd fought him for an extended time on my own. I'd dealt enough damage quickly enough to kill the 74th floor boss before he could kill me, if only barely. But there was a world of a difference between Gleam Eyes and Asterios.

Asterios was stronger, faster, more skilled, smarter, more durable, and even the one advantage I'd held over the floor boss, my dual wield, was nullified by the twin axes Labrys.

I spun to the side, avoiding both axes as they came down in a downwards chop, turning my momentum into an attack as I executed Double Circular, tearing through the Servant's side in what I would've claimed was a lethal blow against anything that could die this morning.

My eyes met Emiya's for what must have been a fraction of a second, but an entire conversation occurred in that instant. We understood what the other wanted to say in a way only two veterans of battle could, we both knew where this fight was going, something had to change for us to win, and we both knew what that was. Despite how long the fight had been going Emiya had fired off a single explosive sword, and I knew why. If he did I'd be caught in the blast. I knew from experience that those things could hurt even if I blocked it, and it was likely that Emiya would use something stronger on someone like Berserker than he would me.

But that was what it'd take to beat the Minotaur, and retreat wasn't an option, not here in the Labyrinth. I might have something that could kill him but I had no way of knowing, and I couldn't take the time to try and figure it out now.

Our gazes broke as fast as they had met and I refocused on the enemy Servant. I had to give Emiya the opening he needed, no point in him launching his biggest attack just for Asterios to block or dodge it, and with how durable he was proving to be it'd be best to have it as a direct hit regardless.

My blades lashed out, one after the other as I fended off attack and struck with my own. I found myself marvelling at just how durable they were, to survive the beating Berserker and I were putting them through. I felt myself giving thanks to Lisbeth for forging Dark Repulser and to Cardinal for creating such a powerful blade and giving it to me. Despite the fact that the program running SAO had effectively been my jailor for two years I couldn't help but respect how fair and well designed it was.

I saw it coming, twin slashes from both axes, the paths of the blades would meet right where I was standing. Berserker had tried this before, a blow like this would hurt even if I blocked it, and before now I'd always dodge at least at least one axe. Now it was the opening I needed.

I set my stance and met each weapon with my own. I felt my arms shake, my bones creak, and my muscles protest as I took the attacks but I grit my teeth and held. Now, here Berserker was, stuck in the recoil from a powerful attack, bent over slightly as he stood above me, and most importantly, Emiya was behind him, ready to fire.

I felt my recently obtained mystic sense scream at me as the amount of prana in the room suddenly skyrocketed. I could sense raw power flowing from the other side of the room where Emiya stood, I couldn't see him due to Asterios being between us but I knew that whatever he was using was far above the weapons he'd shot at me in the last two nights. I began leaping back on pure instinct, trying to put as much distance between me and the target of Emiya's attack. I managed to get half through my first jump when my world was filled with a deafening roar and a wave of force.

I vaguely felt my body bounce off the floor once before skidding across the floor, coming to a sudden halt as my back hit the wall. I coughed up blood for a moment before rolling over onto all fours as I began to retch more red gunk. I wiped my mouth and made to stand up, stumbling for a second before I caught my balance. I lost both my swords in the explosion, I could see Elucidator stuck in the ceiling and Dark Repulser lying on the ground a dozen or so meters away. But more than anything I saw Berserker.

His back was exposed flesh charred to black and his twin axes were held loosely in hands that barely worked. His left leg was bending the wrong way and the right was missing a chunk out of his calf. His previously deep red cloth was now covered in ash, embers flickering across it. The iron mask he wore was cracked and falling off to expose a surprisingly soft face and red eyes. But the most shocking part was that he was still alive, and he was trying to stand up.

I was barely aware of what I was doing as I stumbled across the room. Elucidator was out of reach in my current condition and I doubted that Dark Repulser was enough for the job anyway. I didn't need a high quality weapon, just something big and heavy. I didn't even question it as a sword manifested in my right hand, I felt the muscles in my shoulder scream in protest as I grasped it and lifted it behind me.

I took a few more wobbly steps and found myself standing next to the downed Berserker. He struggled to get up again, his legs twitching as they attempted to get footing and I knew it was only a matter of time and prana before he was up again. The man's eyes locked onto me, and in a moment of clarity I noticed how they flickered between me and my sword. There was fear in those eyes for a second before it faded and was replaced by a look of, resignation, and joy of all things. I didn't have the presence of mind to question it, I simply raised my sword and brought it down, blood spurted from the neck, and his body twitched one last time before falling still.

I felt my body relax just a bit and I almost fell backwards but caught myself. I couldn't rest, not until Argo and I were back in her house, a Safe Zone. I didn't have the energy to retrieve my other swords so I simply let them fade away, I could feel the sheathes on my back vaish and I felt sure that my swords had done so as well, the only weapon I had left was the sword in my hand.

It was almost as big as me, an immense thick blade of black steel and weighing more than either Elucidator or Dark Repulser, though not much more. The Black Iron Greatsword, I could remember buying it, a high level piece of equipment but since it was sold by an NPC vendor it was low quality compared to the player forged equipment and monster drops players my level were supposed to use. I had a lot of money but no equipment and no time to grind for a drop of find a smith, so I had bought the weapon since I liked the weight.

Wait, why had I needed a weapon so quickly? And why had I been without any equipment yet I still had so much money on hand? I know I'd never used the sword in Aincrad, but that meant it was from a different game, one I shouldn't be able to remember.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, those were questions for later. Now I was still standing near a potential enemy, Emiya had honored out alliance this far but now that Berserker was dead there was the risk of him trying to off me in a moment of weakness.

Speaking of Berserker his body was beginning to dissolve into motes of prana, at the same time I felt the world shift and found myself staring at Emiya, once again in Fuyuki. I was about to let out a sigh of relief when the world shifted once more.

* * *

I ducked behind Archer once more, moving quickly to avoid Spenser lining up a shot on me. The american had pulled out another gun, a glock this time, and I wasn't sure what mysteries he had enchanted on it but I was trying my best not to get shot at.

Tohsaka threw another gem, and with a flash of red a storm of flames rushed forwards, one that was countered by a call to fire spirits and an opposing fire, that, although weaker, took enough oxygen from the area that both fires died out.

I threw a knife forwards, trying to stick it in the Freelancer's neck, but Caster simply spun the shaft of his spear and deflected the projectile. And wasn't that something, a Caster using not only a bow, but a spear too. The weapons weren't even all that impressive, a wooden hunting bow and a spear made from the same wood, a stone tip tied to the end with animal guts. If Servants followed the same rules as us humans my knife would've splintered his spear and Archer would've shot Caster in the head by now. Unfortunately they were Heroic Spirits, and limiting themselves to what was normal simply wasn't in the job description.

This fight shouldn't have even been this bad. Archer was more skilled with the bow and her equipment surpassed Caster's so much it was like comparing some mid liner's old sword to one of Kii-bou's treasured blades. Unfortunately there wasn't enough room in the Labyrinth for Archer to turn this into a ranged fight, and between the magecraft, weapons, and guns Archer was too busy protecting me and Tohsaka to make any real attacks of her own. I was actually somewhat surprised Archer was bothering to protect me but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I'd considered using a Command Seal to get Kirito over here but Emiya had a way to find Asterios, and without Kirito backing him up there was no way the magus was winning that fight, and if they didn't take out Berserker we weren't getting out of here, so that was an absolute last resort.

I raised my hands up, using the metal of the claws I was wearing to block a bullet from Spenser. Blocking bullets was pretty difficult but not as hard as you'd expect. If you knew where they were shooting ahead of time and had a sizeable enough shield it was doable, and because of how small I was my weapons worked well enough.

I almost stumbled as I felt pain from my bond with Kirito. I'd cut off our link after I'd detected Caster, I didn't want to worry Kirito and didn't want Kirito distracting me, like he was doing now. But any annoyance I might have felt was overshadowed by worry. What was happening that caused him to get that hurt? Had they started fighting Berserker before I knew it? I found myself falling back automatically as I drew whatever information I could from my bond.

I knew instantly what was happening, and despite the condition Kirito was in knew my chance was coming up any second. When the Labyrinth fell and everyone else paused in surprise I took my chance.

"By the power of this Command Seal I order you, Servant Saber come forth!" There was a slight distortion in the air, then he appeared. I did my best not to let my surprise affect my expression but I'm pretty sure it showed. Kirito was a mess, his coat was singed and torn in places, his exposed skin had varying degrees of burns and scrapes. His right arm was twisted in a way that wasn't normal but despite that it still held a sword, one I didn't recognize at that.

Yet despite all of that he was still Servant Saber, and his appearance here forced everyone to pause and reassess the situation to decide a new course of action. Caster was the first to decide.

"Master, we are retreating!" With those words and a flick of his arm Caster threw the spear he held straight at me, I was preparing to try and dodge or block, at least prevent a lethal blow when Kirito dashed in and knocked it aside with his immense sword, moving the blade with speed that almost defied physics.

Then there was an explosion, compared to the power behind a Servant's weapon it was minor, and even for magecraft it wasn't impressive, I looked towards the sound to see Archer shielding her Master, it must've been a grenade or some kind of mundane explosive since the heat and force hadn't even harmed the Servant. My attention snapped back Caster and his Master to find them already over fifty meters away and getting further. I considered having Kirito chase them briefly but shook my head when I thought about his condition.

I looked back to Tohsaka and her Servant, this was the moment of truth, if either of us liked our odds too much we'd be in the middle of another fight. I thought back to Kii-bou's condition, he was beat and bruised, and using a sword I didn't even know. He didn't look like he should be getting into another fight. But on the other hand Archer and Tohsaka were right there, ten meters away, Kirito could cross that distance in a heartbeat, if Archer tried to retreat he'd kill Tohsaka, and if Archer tried to protect her retreat he'd kill the Servant.

"Argo, don't you think that's enough for today?" My eyes snapped to Kirito as he spoke, despite how he looked the words were coherent and his tone even. I sighed as I understood his intents, this had been a good night all things considered, eliminating an enemy Servant, cooperating with another Master, and discovering the identity of Caster's Master and several clues to their identity. If we pushed our luck here it was likely to bite us in the ass.

"Fine, Archer, Tohsaka, we'll be enemies again next time we meet." I slid off my claws as I spoke, noticing the look Kirito was giving me as I handled the weapons, we'd definitely be having a conversation about this.

"Hmph, even after all this you can't even give your name. Are you that ashamed of you lineage or do you not even have one?" I felt myself bristle a bit at the magus' words but did my best to stay calm and not fall for the taunt, the only thing worse insulting a magus' lineage was insulting their magecraft, and I didn't want to give Tohsaka any more information on me than she already had. Kirito shot that idea down though.

"Really, you haven't told them your name? After everything that's happened tonight you think them knowing your name would change anything?" I grumbled a bit, knowing he'd said it aloud so that I'd have to respond, and he wasn't wrong either. Tohsaka had seen enough of my magecraft that knowing my lineage wouldn't help her.

"Fine, my name is Arete Gikas. C'mon Saber, let's go." A second later Kirito had sheathed his weird sword and picked me up, the next thing I knew we were speeding through the streets back to my house. God I needed some sleep.

* * *

I noticed Saber vanish just after the Labyrinth, likely from a command seal, and my first instinct was to race back to Rin and make sure she was fine, Saber had looked pretty beat up but he could still be a problem for Archer if he got too close. Then I noticed that I wasn't alone.

"Senpai?" The voice was weak and tired, but as soft and sweet as I remembered. My neck snapped as I looked in the direction of the voice, there, lying on the ground, blood leaking from the corner of her mouth, was Sakura. I released the bow I had traced and dashed forwards, kneeling on the cement next to my former kouhai.

"Sakura, are you alright?" I immediately winced as I voiced the question, I knew the answer already. The blood leaking from her mouth, what Saber had told me about her arm earlier, the command seals on her hand. It all pointed to one thing.

"I'm fine senpai." It wasn't true, but I knew from the gentle smile she gave me that it wasn't a lie either. "I'm sorry senpai, I wanted to cook for you while you were in town again. I was excited to see you again after so long, but then Grandfather asked me to come downstairs and, sorry, I don't remember much after that." I felt my teeth grind but I did my best to keep my anger cool, I'd deal with Zouken later, for now I placed a hand under Sakura's head and gently lifted her up.

"It's fine Sakura, I'll take you to Rin, she can help." The mention of the other magus made Sakura smile again, it was a smile that crushed any hope I might've had that she'd live.

"Ah, tell onee-san I don't blame her, and that I wish we could've been real sisters. Goodbye, senpai." I felt her body go limp, what little strength was in her neck vanished and her eyes glassed over. I took a breath in through my nose before letting it out my mouth.

I set Sakura down gently, standing up and grabbing the radio earbud out of my pocket. "Rin, I'm going to take care of the worm. I'll be back before morning." I shut off the earbud and started walking away, my mind focusing on swords.

* * *

Arete Gikas.

Arete GIKAS.

GIKAS!

My thoughts were a whirlwind as I couldn't focus on anything but this new revelation. I didn't even realize that I could've had Atalanta kill them until they were gone. My thoughts were still swirling when I heard the crackle of static from the radio that Shirou had given me. I scrambled and brought the earpiece to my head, ready to share this new information when Shirou spoke first.

"Rin, I'm going to take care of the worm. I'll be back before morning." I flinched in confusion, and by the time I had gathered my thoughts again Shirou had shut his own radio off. I almost growled into the piece before sighing.

"Archer?"

"I'll make sure he is fine." At least that was taken care of. There was going to be a lot to deal with in the morning, but for now it was best to head home.


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: Alright, here we go. First standard procedure, sorry about how late the chapter is yada yada, something something, time with family over holidays, and new semester of school. Alright, now let's move onto the more important stuff, this is the first chapter of the story that focuses far more heavily on Rin and Shirou than Kirito and Argo, and for the rest of the story it's gonna be a lot closer to a fair mix, though there will be chapters like this where one side is more heavily weighted than the other.**

 **Now, dealing with my writing in general, my next update will either be Awakening to Battle or an entirely new story, we'll see what I get done, as for when this update will be, well, let me tell you guys my New Year's resolution.**

 **One chapter a month, every month.**

 **I want to follow that for the foreseeable future, I don't have a hard date yet for when each chapter will come out each month but this is the January update. I think this is a reasonable pace and one I can follow. I might end up posting more then one chapter a month but only if my writing is well above pace for that month. With that in mind we'll see how long I can hold to it but I'm hoping the answer is a long time.**

 **Thanks for your support and patience with this, I'll see you next time.**

My fingers drummed across the table and in a fit of impatience I glanced over at the clock in the corner of the room, grinding my teeth in annoyance at how late it was. Actually, it would be more accurate to call it early than late.

Moments later I heard the front door open and a call of 'I'm home', ring out from the entrance. I was on my feet in seconds, storming towards the door, my rage almost forming a physical manifestation as I glared at the idiot that had been gone all night.

"Do you know what time it is?" From the way Shirou flinched back and rubbed the back of his head nervously he knew exactly what time it was. I simply rose an eyebrow, demanding an answer. From what he'd said last night and what little I'd gotten from Archer who'd accompanied him, his explanation would have something to do with Zouken.

"It was Sakura." Shirou's slightly anxious expression was replaced with steel and he spoke evenly, but I knew him well enough to tell that he was angry. "Sakura was the Master of Berserker, and after Saber and I killed Berserker she died too. I'm not too sure why, but I know she was infected with worms." A mix of emotions washed over me, shock, understanding, concern and finally rage.

"Where is he?" The hell I'd bring down on that magus, I didn't care how many centuries old he was, or that he was a far more skilled magus than me, or that he was supposedly immortal, I was going to kill him.

"Dead." Or I would''ve if Shirou hadn't got to him first. "There may not be many ways to kill him, but I've got all the weapons I could ever need. Zouken is dead, his workshop and research destroyed, even the Matou house is burnt to the ground." I nodded, a little miffed that I wasn't going to get my piece of flesh off the old worm but satisfied his life's work was gone.

"And Shinji?" There was only one left who carried the name of Matou, and if he had allowed Zouken to have his way with Sakura after everything that happened last war I'd be taking my anger out on him.

"Dead too, I don't know when he died but all I found was a corpse. Zouken probably got him too."

"Alright, but next time you tell me and we go in together." I could only sigh, it was all over and Shirou hadn't even given me the chance to vent some. He nodded and I began to walk away, Shirou following me as I sat down at the table. He seemed confused and tired but when I motioned for him to sit he followed.

"There's one more thing we need to talk about from last night. I know the name of Saber's Master." That got Shirou's attention, his eyes became focused as any sign exhaustion faded. "She's a Gikas, Arete Gikas."

"What? Wasn't Clocktower supposed to wipe them out?" Shirou's surprise wasn't as intense as my own but I noticed the way he narrowed his eyes and tensed his body.

"They tried to." I rubbed my forehead, trying to mitigate a building headache. "I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that a family so involved in finding and hiding information would have hidden their heir but that's the thing. If she's the heir, or I suppose the head now, of the Gikas family and she's supposed to be a secret why tell me her name? I mean, she should know that revealing her identity would put a massive target on her back, the Gikas made a lot of enemies in Clocktower, and for us who are trying to dismantle the Grail she's our ultimate opponent."

"We're missing something." My head met the table as Shirou spoke, I knew he was right, but to find another piece of the puzzle only to realize the whole thing was far bigger than we thought, it was frustrating to say the least.

"There's something else though." I rolled my head to the side so I could look Shirou in the face as he spoke. "Last night, you probably noticed when Saber was called by his Master, but he was using a different sword." I had noticed, hadn't really thought much of it at the time, too focused on not dying at first and then on ways to kill that girl after I learned her idetity. Not that a new sword meant all that much, it wasn't like Shirou didn't have plenty of them. That's when it connected.

"You can analyze the new weapon, can't you?" I snapped up right, hands planted on the table, but the look on Shirou's face told me it was more complicated than that.

"The sword is called Black Iron Greatsword, it's a mass produced model forged by Sylph blacksmiths. The enormous blade is meant to be wielded two handed by only the physically strongest of swordsmen. It was bought by the Spriggan Swordsman Kirito and used on his quest to the top of the World Tree." Now I was confused.

"Wait, the World Tree? You mean Yggdrasil from Norse mythology? But, what the hell is a Sylph, or a Spriggan?" This was just getting crazy.

"Supposedly they're faeries, except I know for a fact that no such fae exist, and that no fae have ever climbed Yggdrasil." I started gnawing on one of my fingernails, before pausing and looking Shirou in the eyes as something occurred to me.

"You don't think Gikas can fake Structural Analysis results do you?" I wasn't too sure if such a thing was possible, and while for almost any other mystery I would know the limits far better than Shirou Structural Analysis was one of only three spells that Shirou knew better than me, better than pretty much any magus actually.

Shirou seemed to take his time thinking about it, but after a moment he spoke up. Though his words didn't sound too sure. "Maybe, it should be possible, but I'd expect it to take a dedicated mystic code, something designed in such a way that it reacts to the analysis and gives out false information as a response." Shirou leaned back and started rubbing his temples, his eyes closed as he continued to speak.

"This is way beyond me, I may know Structural Analysis better than most but I'm not good at this kind of theoretical and complex magecraft. It's possible yes, but the complexity of it isn't something that you should be able to get without creating a mystic code specifically for giving out those results." I sighed in response, the information Shirou got with his analysis was faulted in so many ways we had to assume it was fake regardless.

"Maybe it's a part of one of Saber's Noble Phantasms? I believe the Berserker in the Fourth war had something similar;" For the head of the Tohsaka getting that kind of information wasn't too hard, especially when the official position of Clock Tower was to dismantle the Grail and it was my duty to do so.

"But if that's the case then why bother blocking Structural Analysis on his other weapons? In the end we just don't know enough. At the very least we should check out that name, Kirito. It may be fake, it may not, but if we don't look into it we won't know." I nodded before adding my own two cents.

"We should take a closer look at Norse and British mythology as well, the references to Yggdrasil and the fae might just be meant to distract us but just like the name we can't know for certain unless we look into it." I looked back over to the clock in the corner of the room before sighing.

"We should get some rest, sleep for a few hours and deal with the rest of this in the morning." Shirou nodded, a little slowly though I wasn't sure if he was simply reluctant to rest, tired, or both, so I ignored it as I stood and moved off to sleep.

* * *

I stumbled a bit as I walked down the stairs. My one leg was still sore enough that I had to limp around, and the pain in my arms and shoulders made using my hands on the wall for support painful as well.

Argo and I had gone right to sleep as soon as we got back, my Servant healing would take care of my injuries for the most part and fortunately or unfortunately any bleeding wounds had been cauterized by Emiya's explosion.

I sat at the table almost ready to go back to sleep right there when Argo placed a bowl and a pair of chopsticks in front of me. Fried egg on rice, with some pan fried veggies. "Thanks for the food." he words were slurred and spoken solely out of ingrained habit.

The food was simple and bland for the most part but to my empty stomach it was one of the best things I'd tasted. One of the best outside of Asuna's cooking of course.

"Alright, so time to talk about last night." I blinked for a second as Argo sat across from me, her own food in front of her. I nodded for second, before blearily shaking my head. Argo reached across the table and pushed something towards me, I only realised then that she'd made coffee at some point. I picked the cup up, drinking some of the miracle liquid before shaking my head again, far more alert this time.

"Thanks." I spoke up, the dry taste in my mouth only now clearing. "So, last night." Argo took that chance to speak up.

"Yeah, a lot went wrong and a lot went right, we came out pretty good at the end but we really need to figure out what's next." She paused for a second before nodding. "I suppose I'll go first, you saw last night but Tohsaka, Archer, and I got caught up in a fight with Caster and his Master. I've got Caster's Master's identity and I know his abilities fairly well, we can over those later but what matters now is Caster." I nodded, as I chewed on some food, while the Master was a serious part of the war the real threat and the real mystery was the Servant.

"You saw but Caster was clearly a Native American, it's difficult to say where exactly he's from but we can narrow it down, he clearly isn't from anywhere too far north, at the very least no shirt says his people didn't see much if any snowfall. And his dress wasn't standard for South American civilizations." I just nodded along, encouraging Argo to continue. I wasn't an expert on any of this and I didn't have Argo's insane memory to help me along. I hadn't even been to school in two years so there was no way I'd have anything to add.

"That pretty much narrows it down to North America, but there's still a ton of people he could be, Sitting Bull, Black Hawk, Sequoyah, there's not exactly a lot we can use to narrow it down from there. I mean, he was clearly a martial fighter rather than a standard Caster, so more likely Black Hawk than Sequoyah but we can't rule it out." Argo Paused in her monologue to lean back, eating a bit as she paused.

"And Archer?" I brought up the other Servant Argo had been with last night.

"Not a whole lot to go on there." Argo pointed her chopsticks at me as she spoke. "She was white so that means she could be from anywhere in Europe, lot's of legends there so it doesn't narrow it down much, probably not from the Americas since she was using a bow not a gun and people pretty much knew bullets were the way to go long before they started colonizing. Her hair was green and blonde but again, 'blonde lady with a bow' is a pretty big category. She did have cat ears and a tail, it's the kinda thing that might be missing from her legend but does tell us she isn't fully human, maybe associated with a bestial god or something."

Argo paused as she took another bite, chewing on it as she thought. "As for her abilities, she was pretty good at finding those traps but that might just be the class skill Clairvoyance, the shots from her bow are strong, like tear through enchanted stonelike it's paper strong but you probably knew that." I nodded, in agreement. Archer had shot at me a few times already on the first night, and despite how little mass was in each arrow there was a lot of force there.

"Yeah, that's about it, I'll have to look over Native American legends and heroes to see if I'm missing anything, skim through European archers too, but I doubt I'll find much. What about you? Learn anything special about Emiya? And what was that sword from last night?" I grimaced, shifting in my seat as I thought about how to answer those questions, and in what order. I decided to just start talking and see what came out.

"Emiya, I think we underestimated him." I saw the way Argo's brow shot up and knew I needed to explain. "I mean, he was able to get a map of the Labyrinth out of Berserker's axes, and while it seemed hard for him he still did it. I'm starting to wonder just how much he can get out of something he can analyze. And he's got more firepower than we gave him credit for." I paused and breathed out heavily, I had been talking quickly and I needed to calm down a bit.

"We killed Berserker because of Emiya's attack, the explosion he created, it was powerful. It almost killed the Minotaur on its own, he barely survived it. It did a number on me and I had Berserker as a meat shield at the time." I sighed as I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts.

"We said that Emiya was best considered an independent Servant without a Noble Phantasm. I think that's wrong, I think that whatever attack he used on Berserker is his 'Noble Phantasm'. I don't know what restrictions he may have, how much prana it costs or if it takes preparation, but that thing can kill Servants, and he might be able to do more. It could be that that's his ultimate trump card but I'm not sure about that. Magus have a lot of different spells, and while this guy may be specialized there's probably more he can do."

I stopped and for the first time since I started speaking looked at Argo's face. There was conflict in her eyes, doubt, fear, concern. She wasn't entirely sure if I was right or just going a little crazy, but she was taking this seriously, she trusted me that Emiya was a major threat. Eventually she nodded and spoke up.

"Alright, I understand. I guess it's just good that you can overwhelm him in an up close fight, so as long as we can close distance we can still beat both of Tohsaka's 'Servants'." I felt like it wasn't going to be that simple but Argo wasn't wrong. Emiya had escaped in the first fight because he'd done something I wasn't prepared for, and we'd been stalemated in the second because he'd had a way of keeping me from getting close. How long that would've worked and whether I'd be able to escape I didn't know, but now that I knew what he was doing with those swords I could stop him from setting up that trap in the first place.

"As for the sword, I'm not entirely sure about that." That got a rise out of Argo.

"Kii-bou, it's your sword, you pulled it out of thin air. How can you not know what it is?" Her tone wasn't truly accusatory, just confused, a feeling we shared.

"I, I don't know." I waved one hand and began to gesture, my food forgotten as I spoke. "I mean, I remember realizing that Berserker wasn't dead, and I knew that if I didn't kill him right then he'd start to heal and we'd be back to square one. But Asterios could take a lot of damage, I mean, I must have shredded his lungs while we were fighting but he never cared. I had to hit deep, take something really important, but I needed a bigger sword for that."

"So you got one?" I was grateful for Argo's interruption, and simply nodded before continuing.

"Kind of, I mean between one second and the other it was there. And, the weird part it, I can remember getting it." The Rat raised an eyebrow and I hurried to explain. "I don't mean last night, I mean I remember getting the sword in a game."

"Wait really, I didn't think there were any one handed swords that big in SAO, and by that I mean there weren't, if there was I'd know." I gave her a small smile as she showed off a bit but also nodded before I continued.

"It wasn't in Aincrad though. It was a different game. It's fuzzy, but I remember that I urgently needed a good sword, my stats were high and I had plenty of money, but I didn't have the time to go farming or search for a player smith."

"Wait, that thing is from a vendor?" I nodded understanding her surprise.

"Yeah, it's not all that great of a sword all things considered. I like it because it's so heavy, and it was useful last night for its size, but even then it's nothing all that special." I sighed aloud before I finished talking. "That's it, I don't remember why I needed a weapon so badly, I don't remember what game I was in, I don't even remember the name of the sword." I stopped there, giving Argo a chance to process everything, I expected her to take a minute or two but she was always a fast thinker.

"Has there been anything else? Any other memories that don't fit or seem out of place? Even small things like a meal you remember but haven't had or an episode from an anime you've never watched?" I almost said no, without thinking, but then I paused.

"Yeah, I do. I remember, breakfast with my sister, on New Years, we were going to play a game later, something about a special quest. But Sugu doesn't play video games. And, some kind of new console, an AR game. It was everywhere, but I didn't like it, didn't use it. I can't even remember why I didn't like, just that I didn't want to use it but I didn't want to spoil everyone else's fun."

It was perhaps the strangest feeling I'd ever had, memories that I knew were mine, feelings that were mine, but they didn't fit. I looked back on my life, on everything that I remembered, and these pieces stuck out because they hadn't happened yet. It was like having a jigsaw puzzle, and these pieces, these memories, they didn't fit in the puzzle but they were there anyway.

"I think. I think your summoning wasn't as simple as we'd thought." Argo spoke up and I leaned forwards in my seat, my hands spread across the table for support, she had my full attention. "We had thought that the Grail had brought forth the power of the Heroic Spirit Kirito and placed it inside of you as a vessel. We thought that because the consciousness of 'Kirito' was already inside of you that the Grail either hadn't pulled that part of the Heroic Spirit from the Throne, or that it simply faded away." Argo paused and looked me in the face before she continued.

"I think we were wrong. I think the consciousness of the Heroic Spirit was either repressed or incorporated into you, and now you're either starting to gain these memories or they're beginning to surface. And I think it's going to keep happening, and I'm not sure if I can reverse it. I'm worried that by the end of the war you might be a completely different person. You'd still be 'you', but you'd be a 'you' from twenty, thirty years in the future, maybe more. I-I might be able to stop it, expel the Heroic Spirit inside of you. You'd stop being a Servant so we'd have to give up on this war, but that's not the end of the world." There was worry in her voice, real concern, and I found myself worried too, biting my lip in thought.

I was being replaced with myself from the future, maybe not physically but mentally, emotionally. I might remember growing into the person I'd become, in memories that didn't belong in my mind, but if I became that person now, during this Grail War, I'd miss the chance to grow into that person alongside those around me.

Two years ago that might not have mattered to me, I was isolated, I didn't have any friends, sure there were people I talked to and shared interests with, but not friends, not really. As for my family, I'd pushed them away after discovering they weren't my birth family, that our entire relation had been a lie. But now, I had people, Klein, Silica, Agil, Lisbeth, Asuna and Yui.

Asuna.

I shook my head, knowing exactly what I needed to do. "No, I'll continue to fight, I'm here to bring Asuna back, I was willing to die for that, I still am willing to die for that. This isn't that bad, and besides, even if I stopped being your Servant now Tohsaka and Emiya would still see you as a target, the other Masters too. And without a Servant to protect you." I let the rest go unsaid, the conclusion was obvious.

"I could just leave, ditch Fuyuki for a week or two, by the time I was back the War would be over and no one would care about me again." I gave the girl a look, she and I both knew it wasn't that simple. Trying to leave the town would make her a target for any Master in the war and she'd be vulnerable the whole time, plus I'm pretty certain the supervisor was supposed to stop people from doing that. And while Argo was good at sneaking around avoiding not just Assassin but also Caster, Archer, and any other Servants with detection skills as she tried to run was beyond her.

"No, we keep going." I spoke, my tone resolute and even. "We're only on the third day and I'm just now getting these memories, just how bad can it get before the war ends?"

* * *

I ate slowly, not really bringing myself to enjoy the food I'd cooked. Rin was in the same situation, she had never been a morning person and after pulling such a late night she was in no shape to be up this early, unfortunately Taiga had come for breakfast like she always did when I was in town, and we couldn't simply turn her away without looking suspicious.

So here we were, Rin and I silent in our exhaustion while Taiga was as loud and as boisterous as always. It was so bad that even Taiga noticed something was off.

"I know you two have been dating for a long time now but you should really have some reservations. You can't be going at it that long every night." I almost choked on my food and had to resort to pounding on my chest as I coughed to dislodge the food. She thought we'd been doing what exactly last night?

"T-taiga-nee that isn't why we were up so late last night!" I was pretty awake now, and did my best to stop this. It wasn't as if we hadn't done plenty of 'that', but I really didn't need to be talking about it with my adoptive older sister.

"Oh really? Then what exactly were you doing for so long last night that you're ready to fall asleep at the breakfast table?" I opened my mouth for a second before realizing that I didn't have an answer. I couldn't tell her I'd been fighting an ancient Greek monster in their own lair before going to burn down the Matou's house and murdering the only surviving family member.

My gaze moved onto Rin as I sought aid and what I found was damning. She was blushing, her arms crossed to hold herself and her chin tucked in to make herself appear small. She shifted a little as I watched and then, upon noticing my gaze shrunk further into herself, her blush worsening.

My jaw dropped, she was doing this on purpose, she had to be. Rin was a pervert and a tsundere, there was no way she'd react like this even if we had been going at it like rabbits last night. But although I knew that Taiga didn't.

I looked back to the Tiger of Fuyuki to find the most shit eating grin on her face I'd ever seen. My head met the table and all the dishes, shook. I gave a groan of surrender, the opposition was too powerful, it was better to give in now and salvage what I could than fight until I had nothing left. Taiga's laugh and the tiny smirk on Rin's face only proved me right.

"Ah, Shirou's cooking is so good. I'm gonna miss it tonight." I blinked in confusion, sitting up as I did, it wasn't like I wasn't going to be cooking tonight, there shouldn't be any reason Taiga couldn't come over for dinner right. My confusion must have been evident on my face because Taiga had her own look of confusion.

"Shirou, don't tell me you forgot the Archery demonstration?" My confusion lasted a second or two longer before clearing away like smoke. The Archery demonstration, Ayako had asked me to participate in showing off a bit to the Homurahara Archery club today. That was today wasn't it? I'd completely forgotten, and a brief glance at Rin showed she hadn't remembered either. I suppose that wasn't a surprise, compared to death matches with ancient heroes an Archery demonstration was a minor event. I looked back to Taiga and scratched the back of my head before speaking.

"Maybe?" The teacher answered with a sigh and a wry smile, one that I mimicked.

"Whatever, you still remember when the club meets right?" I nodded, the club met shortly after classes in the afternoon. "Alright then, I'll see ya then." Taiga stood as she spoke, heading for the door. "Bye Rin-chan, see ya later!" I offered a wave as the woman left. Glad to have her gone and have some peace for at least a little bit. Though there was one issue to deal with now.

"What am I gonna do for dinner?" Just because I wasn't going to be here until it was time to eat doesn't mean I couldn't cook the meal myself. I could make something to be reheated, but it didn't feel right to serve leftovers for dinner. I could make something meant to be eaten cold, like sandwiches, but that was better for lunch then dinner. I was broken from my thoughts as Rin stood and began to speak.

"I'll take care of dinner today then, it's been a while since I've gotten to cook and though I'm not as good as you I can cook." I blinked owlishly for a second before nodding, that would work. In truth Rin was selling herself a little short, she may not be an amazing chef but she was more than competent even if she didn't get much of a chance to practise with me around.

"Sounds good then." I spoke up as I stood, collecting the dishes as I moved. "I'll be looking forwards to it."

* * *

I scribbled a few notes down in a notebook, before turning the page of the book I was reading, looking for more useful information on transforming standard magecraft into mysteries that used formula craft.

*swish*

It was several pages later before I decided there was nothing else I'd need from this book, and shut it before replacing it on the shelf, running my fingers across the backs of several other tomes before pulling one out.

*swish*

I cracked the book open, flying through the pages until I found the section on expanding the effects of a mystery without reducing their potency, I knew most of what I needed already but it was better to have a refresher before dealing with something like this.

*swish*

"Kii-bou, I know you're bored but you need to stop swinging that thing around before you break something." I didn't need to turn around to imagine the sheepish look on my Servant's face as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to get more used to its size." I could hear the air part as Kirito spun his sword around before sheathing it, and smell it a second later when he dismissed the sword and his equipment completely.

"Shouldn't the weight be more of an issue than the size? I can't understand how you stay balanced swinging that thing around, the momentum alone should be yanking you off your feet." It truly did defy physics the way he was swinging that thing around.

"Well it's not like SAO's physics engine is perfect, it's not a lot but you can influence your momentum without needing leverage for it. It's pretty weird but it means that I can use weapons heavier than me without too much trouble." Now I had to turn around.

"Okay, two things, one: I knew that already, and two: this isn't SAO." I was leaning over the back of my chair as I spoke, and the way Kirito slowly blinked drove home the point that he really hadn't noticed that issue.

"Huh." And with that and nothing more than a noncommittal shrug Kirito sat down in a chair across the room, as if the issue had been resolved. And honestly, it kind of had. He was a Servant, Servants regularly broke the laws of physics. I think it was a prerequisite for being a Heroic Spirit actually.

I gave up and went back to the books with a sigh, I wanted to finish this by tonight and there was no way that was happening if I didn't put the hours in. I heard the chair tilt and hit the wall as Kirito leaned back, and a second later he spoke up.

"So what exactly are you trying to do? You said something about another spell for tonight but after that you started mumbling a bunch. And you were pretty focused up until a second ago so I didn't want to interrupt you."

"So instead you decided to play around with your sword?" I worded it like that intentionally, even saying it in lewd voice just to try and get a rise out of Kirito. And it worked.

"I-it was practice, and don't say it like that." I did an intentionally poor job of hiding my snicker as he stuttered. "Anyway you still didn't answer my question." The swordsman tried to steer the conversation back on topic, and I let him.

"I'm trying to adapt one of my mysteries to a new format." Changing the format of a mystery was actually more common than you'd think. It's essentially taking a magecraft that is performed with one method and using another, the most common example is reinforcement.

Every magus competent enough to not die by leaving their circuits on learns reinforcement. The standard method is direct manipulation of prana, but it's also done with formalcraft, runecraft, alchemy, sacraments, and even witchcraft.

Now for most thaumaturgy it is far more difficult to adapt them to a new format. Fortunately much of the mystery I was using was already done with formalcraft and that was the easiest style of magecraft to adapt mysteries into due to its formulaic nature and how it draws prana from the atmosphere, eliminating a lot of variables that could be problematic.

"The mystery I'm working with is the one that I used last night and since Tohsaka saw me use it a lot of the advantages with it are gonna disappear. I want to get one last hurrah out of it for this war before all its tactical advantage is officially dead."

I could still have leveraged the spell against Masters and Servants other than Tohsaka and Archer but I still thought of them as the biggest threat. And besides, once I started abusing the mystery I expect Tohsaka will interfere regardless of who I'm using it on. That's what I'd do.

"Okay." I felt Kirito lean over my shoulder, trying to get a look at what I was reading. A second later he moved back, he probably realized he had no idea what he was looking at. "So, how are you planning on using this anyway?" It was a good question, there were a lot of ways I could use the mystery on a large scale.

"I'm thinking we go back to the original strategy, spread smaller pieces of formalcraft across the city. A rune here a circle there, make each piece small enough that they're hard to detect."

"But won't Emiya just track them all down again, just like at the start of the war?" I nodded at Kirito's words. He had a point, though the circumstances had changed and I was hoping it'd be enough that it'd work this time.

"Yeah, but since then the Grail War has gotten into full swing. The Servants and Masters fighting across town has caused a lot of chaos and disrupted the normal prana flow. I'm hoping it'll be enough to hide what we're gonna do."

I heard Kirito sigh aloud and I knew what he was thinking.

"I know, like everything else we've tried it's probably gonna go wrong somewhere." It'd been true the first time I'd tried spread runes, when we'd ambushed Emiya, when we tried to turn Berserker against Tohsaka, and when we tried tracking down Berserker's Master. "But let's do it and see how it goes wrong, and hey, it might actually go as planned, you never know."

Kirito answered with a derisive snort, and there was nothing I could say I say in response.

It was a good point.

* * *

I stood straight, back rigid and feet evenly spaced. Slowly pulled back on the bow string, placing no more strain on it than needed as I drew the arrow back parallel to the ground. I took one even breath, in through the mouth and out the nose. And then released.

The arrow flew true, exactly where I desired. The tip of the arrow became buried in the target, a few centimeters of the shaft along with it.

There was a small round of applause as I lowered my bow. That had been my fourth shot, the final arrow in my quiver and each of the four had struck the black center of the target, exactly where I'd intended. I made to go retrieve my arrows but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

I turned to see Ayako holding me, a knowing grin on her face and two arrows in her other hand. I knew exactly what she wanted and I had no desire to entertain her.

"It's a waste of arrows."

"Just one time." She shoved the two arrows into my quiver without asking and gave me a light push. I sighed and took a few steps to the side, now grateful that Taiga had been forced to attend a teacher's meeting instead of being here, she wouldn't have let me go with jut one.

I stopped and adjusted myself for a moment before looking up to the new target, one void of arrows. I began repeating the process of firing, the was a small murmur when the first one hit the bullseye dead center, some of them were realizing what I was about to do.

There was a legitimate uproar when the second arrow split the first down the middle. I simply sighed, it was a waste of an arrow. They weren't cheap and wasting club funds on such a meaningless display was stupid. Maybe it would've been worth it if I'd Traced the arrow but then it would've shattered into fragments of prana when the second arrow destroyed it. And explaining that without revealing magecraft would be difficult at best.

I lowered my bow and began walking towards the targets to retrieve my arrows. Ayako fell into step next to me, intending to retrieve her own arrows.

"And you said you were rusty, you put a pro like me to shame." I felt an eye twitch as Ayako spoke.

"You say that like you didn't do good, in fact you performed great." She had shot four, the same as I had originally. Two had fallen within the bullseye and the remainder were in the ring nearest to it. It was an impressive display of skill, showing just why she was a professional.

"But compared to four bullseyes and then splitting one arrow with another it's nothing." I struggled for something to say, I'd done this song and dance for most of High School and yet I'd never found an answer that didn't either make my own skill with archery seem more than what it was or belittle Ayako's own.

Kyudo, was all about removing your sense of 'self' from the equation when performing archery after all. And that was fairly easy for someone with no sense of self.

Ayako answered my silence with a sigh and a small smirk, shaking her head as she pulled out her arrows. "It's kind of frustrating how you're so good at this and yet you don't gloat at all. If you had even a little pride I could at least be jealous of you."

"Sorry?" I blinked owlishly as I spoke, I wasn't sure if this was one of those thing I didn't understand because of my distortion or because of women. I finished pulling my arrows out, sliding them into the quiver at my hip, and Ayako and I turned around, walking back towards the group of students that had been watching.

It was about fifteen minutes later that I found myself on the sidelines, sitting on a bench, as Ayako was instructing the club members. A lot of them had questions to ask me at first, some related to archery, others related to my foreign looks, and some had even asked if I was single. That had been the weird one, both because I'd never been popular with girls before but also because I was twenty years their senior, even if I didn't quite look it.

After the initial excitement faded they quickly realized two things, firstly, I was a really bad teacher, my own skill with archery was a mix of my unique nature as a person and my magecraft enduring I never forgot how to fire the bladed weapons that are arrows. And secondly, that Ayako was a really good teacher, she had been the club captain during our time here, and between her own hard work, skill, and filling the role left by Taiga's immaturity she had been excellent at aiding her club mates when we were still in school, and over the years her skills there hadn't lessened at all. This had resulted in me relaxing off to the side while Ayako gave an impromptu lesson on the finer details of Kyudo.

Of course while the Archery Club wasn't too big there wasn't enough room at the range for all of the members to be shooting at once. That meant that a handful of students were off to the side with me. Chatting and gossiping as they waited for their turn. Something one of them said caught my attention.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude but I heard you mention a name and I wanted to know where you heard it." The girl who had spoken earlier seemed to be startled for a moment. She probably didn't think she'd been talking loud enough to be heard by normal people but it wasn't as if I was a normal person.

"Ah, we were in the same Archery club in Middle School, though she had to drop out a few years ago." The girl was giving me an odd look, expected I suppose when a grown man asks about a young girl. "How exactly do you know Gikas-chan?"

"I ran into her just the other night while on a walk in Fuyuki Central Park. We talked for a bit and I just thought it was weird for a girl that young to be out that late on her own. I was worried she might have a problem at home." If anything the look the girl was giving me got more concerned. I was a worried I wouldn't get any more out of her about Saber's Master but help came at the last second.

"Shirou, you still can't help but try to save everyone? I thought Rin was going to break you of that habit." Ayako walked over, apparently while taking a pause in her tutoring she had overheard the conversation. I could only grimace and give my almost automatic response.

"It's never wrong to help people." Though in this case I'd be helping people by killing the girl in question.

The girl I'd been speaking to looked between me and Ayako a few time, apparently deciding that since a fellow woman was speaking up for me I was alright. "Gikas-chan and I went to the same middle school, but two years ago she had to drop out." The girl gestured to her friend that she'd been talking to before I'd interrupted. "We were talking about how since she woke up she might be able to come to school again."

"And I was gonna say they're making that special school for the survivors, she's probably gonna have to move to Tokyo." Wait, 'woke up', 'survivor'? What were they even talking about? Ayako seemed to know because she spoke up next.

"This Gikas-chan you're talking about, she's an SAO survivor isn't she?"

* * *

I groaned softly as the muscles in my shoulder flexed as I rotated my arm. I moved on from the limb and began stretching my back this time, feeling my spine flex sent a mix of pleasure and pain through my body.

"Hmmm, you seem pretty will healed up." I looked away from the spot on the ceiling I'd been staring at to see Argo sitting backwards in her chair, arms crossed over the back of it as she watched me stretch.

"Yeah," I nodded at her as my arms fell to my sides, "I'm a little sore in some spots but overall I feel pretty good." It probably would've felt stranger to me to be healing so fast if I wasn't used to SAO, a game where even losing a limb is just a status debuff that only lasts for a few hours.

"Good, then you should definitely be back up to top condition by tonight." Argo put her hands behind her head and began to lean back, blowing a puff of air out through her lips a she did. "Considering how beat up you were last night I was actually worried we'd have to stay in tonight." I sighed a bit at that.

"I kinda wish we could stay in for a night, I understand we have to keep active and work to make sure the other Masters and Servants don't get a leg up on us, but I'd just like to go bed early one night." Argo gave me a sharp look before giving her retort.

"You say that but you'd just stay up even later gaming." I opened my mouth to tell her off before pausing and realizing something.

"Yeah, you're probably right but hey, a man can dream, right?" Argo initial reply was a snicker.

"Not if he doesn't sleep he can't."

* * *

I sat there, my fingers drumming across the desk as I processed what Shirou had told me once Ayako and Taiga left. Between what we had already knew about the Gikas family and what those girls had told Shirou we'd been able to piece together a pretty likely story.

The Gikas had desired the Grail for a long time, that much we had known since their trial at the Clock Tower, but what we had discovered was the extent that they had prepared for the Grail War. After the 5th war came early they decided to move to Fuyuki, to ensure they didn't miss the next war. Of course knowing I wouldn't approve of their presence as the Second Owner they did so covertly, going so far as to maintain their home and workshop in Greece to further the ruse.

It was this workshop that the enforcers raided.

It was only after they moved to Fuyuki that their daughter was born a secret from Clock Tower, likely we thought, so she could be used as a Master in a future war while concealing her identity as a Gikas. Of course that alone wouldn't have been enough for the enforcers to miss her, if the Gikas head and his wife had been in contact at all with their daughter in the time before their trial we would have known about her. But of course they weren't, because their daughter was in a coma.

Kind of.

Arete Gikas had been an SAO player, one of ten thousand in the game and one of just over six thousand that had survived it. We weren't entirely sure her motives for playing the game, the Gikas family were more technologically progressive than most magus but even for them videogames were a stretch. It's possible she entered the game after it was revealed to be deadly to further mystify her presence in the mystic community, or that gaming was simply a hobby the young girl picked up in her spare time as a part of her mask as a mundane person.

Regardless of the motive the end result was the Gikas had a daughter, a single heir, that no one was looking for in the absolute last place any magus would think to look.

After all, who would look for a Greek magus playing a Japanese videogame?

She survived both the death of her parents and the death game, found herself free just before the Grail War began with a notice of her parent's death and command seals on her hand. It's no surprise she'd join the war, whether to resurrect her parents using the Grail, avenge them by killing me, or to try and get her family's crest back from the Association.

It even explained why she revealed her identity as a Gikas, her family had been involved in many shady dealings and had made as many enemies as allies through their work selling information, she probably believed her family had been killed for something unrelated to the Grail war.

That only left one question unanswered.

"There's no way she managed to get a catalyst for summoning her Servant so quickly after getting out of the game, not with all her family's overseas assets seized and her parents gone." I slammed my open palm on the table as I spoke, my twintails snapped out behind me in a flourish. It didn't make sense.

"It's possible she didn't use a catalyst in her summons." Shirou's theory would've been likely, if the girl had summoned any other Servant.

"No one summons Saber by chance, whatever catalyst she was using was enough to ensure she got the Servant she wanted in the most powerful class of the war. The only thing I can think of is that her family prepared the catalyst long before the war started." It wouldn't even be that much of a stretch, they had moved to Fuyuki almost twenty years ago after all.

"Master." My eyes snapped over to Archer as she materialized and spoke up. "The game the girl was trapped in, you said it was called Sword Art Online correct?"

I opened my mouth to respond before it occurred to me just what she was implying.

"No..."

"It would explain why he was so young, age wouldn't really matter in a game world."

"No." My eyes locked on Shirou as I repeated myself, trying to ignore the logic of what he said.

"If this game was similar enough to true battle it's possible the most powerful of warriors in it could ascend to the Throne."

"No!" This time it was my Servant I turned to, trying to drown out her words with another shout of denial.

"The players were trapped for around two years right? If they were fighting all day every day that's a lot of battle experience." Shirou snapped his fingers and pointed this time, as if he was having a revelation about some major mystery, which to be fair he was, but dammit he was seriously damaging my already fragile sanity in the process!

"NO!" I yelled and stood up as I did. "Servant Saber is not some random otaku kid!"

* * *

Servant Saber wasn't just some random otaku kid as Rin had called him.

Well, he used to be, then when SAO turned into a death game he apparently used his knowledge as a 'beta tester', whatever that was, to pull ahead of the rest of the player base. From there his own skill and tenacity kept him as one of the best players in game despite playing by himself in what was supposed to be a game you challenged with a group of allies.

We found this much out by using the internet, though its use was rare I did own a laptop for a few different purposes. Some of my contacts in the enforcers embraced technology enough that they used computers for easy contact and others as methods for assigning jobs or selling information. I'd been told before that this 'google' was good for getting information on mundane targets but this was the first time I'd used it.

Eventually as the players of SAO neared the end of the game Saber obtained the ability to wield two swords at once, something that the game apparently prevented other players from doing. Some said he got the skill by cheating and others say that he got it through skill, but all agreed he first used it to solo a floor boss, some kind of extra powerful monster meant to be faced with dozens of players.

From there the accounts of how the game ended were few and far between but the most common rumor was that one of the players had actually been Kayaba Akihiko, the games developer and the player's warden, in disguise. Saber had managed to discover him and oust him in front of a group of players and win their freedom in a duel.

Rin and I found all this out by typing 'Black Swordsman SAO' into some website and just reading the stuff that popped up on various 'forums', or whatever they were called. Though this did explain why Rin hadn't been able to find anything about the Servant in her books. The SAO incident, or at least the players being released from it, was a very recent event and there was no way any of its details would have made their way into a published book yet, not to mention the ancient tomes in most magus libraries.

"Well," I spoke up drawing Rin's attention away from the laptop screen. "that solves the mystery of her catalyst." Rin's face scrunched up in distaste as she realized what I was implying.

"Yeah, for an SAO survivor getting a catalyst to summon someone from the game would be pretty easy. One of those headgear things would probably work, and it's even possible that Gikas herself was the catalyst." I nodded as RIn spoke, voicing my own thoughts.

"The question is what we do with this information, seeing as this Black Swordsman hasn't actually died yet we can't look for his weakness there. And even the name we have for him is probably fake since he used for a game, this Kirito." I read the name off the screen as I spoke. The word itself wasn't that strange or foreign to my tongue, it was obviously japanese in origin, but it wasn't an actual word, or even a normal name.

"There's still advantage to be gained from this." Archer spoke up, from her place standing behind Rin. "If his legend is rooted in this, SAO, then he will have had no exposure to magecraft during his life." RIn spoke up from there.

"His magic resistance will be low for a Saber Servant, and we can probably get an advantage over him by using magecraft in ways he won't expect." I could see the gears churning in Rin's head as she began to come up with more indirect methods of attacking the Servant with magecraft. I spoke up with my own idea.

"There's also the game itself, right? Those kind of things are supposed to have limits to what the players can do, and while he may be beyond some of them since he's a Heroic Spirit they should still give us an idea of what other skills he has except swordsmanship."

I paused again, not entirely sure if I wanted to bring this up in front of Rin's Servant but in the end I spoke my mind.

"Saber isn't the only one we've learned about. Between her real name, middle school records and the time she spent in the hospital for SAO we know a lot more about his Master too." Rin narrowed her eyes and gave me a look, one that, while not truly hostile was cautious.

"Shirou, what exactly are you implying." I paused for a second before I spoke, letting my tongue wet my lips for a second.

"I'm saying that we can find out where she lives."


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright, this is a big one, and there's a lot to unpack here so let's get started. First, I said before that the next post was gonna be M &M, there were some issues with Chapter 2, nothing major but I just needed to step away from it for a bit before finishing up the chapter that'll be done soon. **

**So over the weekend I did 14 hours of 'stepping away' and accidentally wrote a whole chapter.**

 **I actually got a little carried away working on this, I was supposed to write a bit of it, get my thoughts rearranged and then go finish up my other stuff. Instead I sat down and wrote a 12k chapter. Anyway though, this chapter is heavily focused on Kirito and Argo, I know I've been saying that that'd be happening less but for the story to progress this was necessary, and I think it worked well enough that I don't even feel bad about it.**

 **Now, before we get to the story there's one more thing to cover: WARNING: This story, from here on out, will contain spoilers for SAO Alicization, these spoilers are for the anime only. I have read the light novels, yes, but nothing from them will make its way into this story until after those parts have been animated.**

 **That's everything, chapters clocks in at just over 12k words, it was meant to end much earlier than it ended up ending but I'm very happy with it, and I hope you all are too. Enjoy~~!**

I threw my coat on, shifting around lightly to get it to settle right before kneeling down to tie my first boot. Rather than leave the house already in my combat gear I'd go out in civilian clothes and then shift over once I was in position to start the hunt.

Argo would move out her own and stick to the shadows and use her magecraft to find me targets, that was supposed to be the plan, but apparently something changed.

"Argo, what are you doing?" I knew what she was doing of course, just like me she was putting on her coat, grabbing her boots even as I questioned her. What I didn't understand was the why.

"I did some thinking, and I decided we need to change tactics again." I felt myself stand straight, my untied boot forgotten. I knew Argo was being serious when she went straight to business without so much as a tease or sarcastic comment.

"I don't think we can afford to split up again. We were able to before because I could hide myself even from most Servants, but Archer found me last night, I was near Caster long enough that he probably got a read on my prana signature, and Assassin is still out there."

"You're worried they could track you down." It was easy to see the risk there.

"At least one of them, yeah. When it was just Assassin the risk was small enough and there was always a command seal as backup." Argo lifted her hand and turned it so I could see them, the red markings on her hand. "I had to use one last night though, and while we've still got two more I can really only use one safely."

"Because if you use them all, then the contract is broken." It was one of the earliest things Argo had explained to me, the seals were the manifestation of our contract, and the medium through which she gave me prana.

"Yeah, with a normal Servant they'd fade once they run out of prana, unable to replenish it, I'm not actually sure what would happen to you, it's possible you'd just start losing access to your abilities as a Servant and revert back to a normal human, but it's also possible you're body wouldn't be able to handle the shift."

She didn't need to say anything more than that, best case there was I went back to being a cripple, like I'd been during the days immediately following SAO, worst case was, well, the same worst case as everything else was in this war.

"Anyway using all three seals is pretty much a non-option, even if you could survive it winning the Grail War after that would be impossible, we could steal more seals from another Master but that's far too risky to rely on."

"So from now on we have to stick together?" I was sure of the answer even as I voiced the question, that had been where this was going since the start after all.

"At the least we do when it's night. We should be fine during the day but it's not worth the risk if we can avoid it." There was a small glint in the Rat's eyes, one I had long ago learned to link with her unique brand of mischief. "Why worried people will think we're dating?" I began to flush but resisted my body's reaction as best I could to fight back.

"M-more worried someone will think you're my little sister, I don't want people thinking I'm that guy." I took the cheap shot at her height, she was short even for a growing girl and while it worked well for the mousey impression that fit with her rodent epithet she still didn't like being reminded of it.

"Yeah, like you're some tall, dark, and handsome." She scoffed at me before giving me a shrewd look. "You only fit one of those blackie." I gave my own scoff along with a small smile as I went back to my footwear. We had work to get done, and though we'd probably keep trading jabs as we did it it was time to get started.

*line break*

I stayed perfectly still, laying down on the rooftop as I watched the two walk away from the house. I shifted the binoculars to zoom in a bit better, using the mundane tool rather than reinforcement to avoid triggering my circuits and being detected.

I raised one hand to the side of my head and began talking to Rin through the radio. "Gikas and Saber have left the building, walking towards downtown." I paused and gave Rin the chance to respond.

"You saw Saber? So he's already manifested?" I grimaced at that, the answer to that was a little complex.

"Yes?" It sounded like a question even to my ears. "He was walking next to Gikas, but I couldn't sense his prana."

"Presence Concealment then?" There was a pause as Rin's Servant said something I couldn't hear. "Archer thinks it's likely, that, game, did have something to allow players to hide from enemies." I could almost hear Rin's teeth grinding as she spoke the word.

The idea that a Servant summoned by the Holy Grail, an artifact of True Magic that even corrupted and broken the Tohsaka had spent generations maintaining and fighting for, was an otaku, didn't sit well with her to say the least.

Of course I didn't care what the source of his strength was, it wasn't as if my own power was any more real than his. A faker like me had no use for pride. I noted the two had been out of sight for a time now and stood.

"I'm going in now, wish me luck." I leapt from the roof's edge, careful not to jostle the backpack I carried too much, and jogged across the street. I didn't want to exert myself when a fight could break out but I still wanted to move quickly.

I stopped on the street in front of the Gikas house, it hadn't been hard to go to city and get some records on the family. Of course it'd required Rin's hypnosis to make sure things went off without any problems or undue suspicion, but finding the records had been easy from there.

Surprisingly they'd been real, and there'd been no trap or other magecraft attached to files. Apparently the Gikas had decided the best way to hide from a second owner wasn't complicated mysteries and advanced bounded fields, but simply no magecraft at all. It made sense actually, after all: How would you find a magus that didn't use magecraft?

I kept my nose perked and hands ready to trace as I approached the house, but despite my well founded caution and expectations I didn't find anything. No bounded field, or familiar, or defensive runes. If I wasn't aware of how much the Gikas girl had dedicated herself to hiding I would've just gotten more worried.

I walked up to the front door and after a brief inspection I pulled a lockpicking set out of my pockets. I didn't want to start using magecraft until it was absolutely necessary, and while I could probably break down the door without it I didn't want the neighbors calling the police.

One minute later and I was standing in the entryway cautiously looking around. As I walked through the house I noticed it, a bounded field. I stared at the patch of plain wall, to any normal human, and even most magus, the wall would be completely normal, but I could sense the layers of magecraft covering it. I was tempted to trace Rule Breaker and break into it, destroying the defenses and proceeding to loot what I could from the workshop and destroy everything else.

And while Rin would likely want access to whatever notes and research the Gikas family had left that wasn't the objective tonight, and breaking the bounded field was a surefire way of alerting Saber and his master to my presence.

No, I had a different goal here tonight, and it was time to get started on it.

*line break*

My eyes were glued shut as I focused all my attention of the ritual I was performing. The amount of information I was funneling to myself was more than humans were meant to receive and shutting off or ignoring my other senses helped to deal with it. It was fortunate I'd been conditioned since I was old enough to walk to deal with more information than most humans thought possible.

Most players in SAO had attributed my skill as an info broker to my nearly eidetic memory, but compared to the information processing needed for the Gikas version of Structural Analysis knowing the locations of quests and the drops for different monsters was easy.

I sifted through the information as I received it, not bothering to look at the minute details but focusing instead on things that were off. A Servant, even manifested, wouldn't appear all that different to a normal human wandering around with this mystery, but any attempt to block the thaumaturgy would light red flags, not due to what information I did receive, but because of what I didn't.

A small empty dark spot didn't sound attention catching till you realized everything else was filled with light.

Of course not all of these spots were unexpected, the blank areas around the Tohsaka mansion and Emiya manor were fully expected, and while it was possible Archer was inside one of them attacking a magus inside of their defenses was generally a bad idea. The same applied for the Einzbern castle on the outskirts of town, and while there wasn't likely a master or a Servant at the church the same explanation went for the lack of information.

"Got one!" My eyes opened as I stepped out of the softly glowing circle that sustained the magecraft, though the amount of information I received dropped significantly I still got enough for what was needed at this point. I had found my target, it was just another empty void, like all the others except this one was a bit smaller, but I knew this one wasn't just a bounded field around a magus' domain.

After all, this one was moving.

"Alright, which way?" Kirito looked ready to move, though most wouldn't think so from his relaxed posture I knew better. Of course he was forgetting something.

"Keep your pants on Kii-bou, my Sprint skill isn't high enough to keep up with a Servant." He just seemed to blink sheepishly for a moment before realizing that we were supposed to move together.

"Ah, right." He paused for a second as his face scrunched up. "I guess we walk then? Take things a little slow?"

"That'd be a waste of time, and give the enemy time to escape." Kirito sighed, he knew I'd say that and he knew what this meant. "You just have to carry me." It wasn't really as big a deal as we were

making it, and we both knew it. We were just messing with each other. And I was winning.

"Alright then." There was no tone of surrender in his voice, and the glint in his eyes had me suspicious. But even if I wanted to do something I couldn't move fast enough, he was a Servant after all.

I felt myself shift quickly as I left the ground, my arms reaching around Kirito's neck instinctively. I paused for a second as I realized what had happened before pouting. "This isn't what I meant." I had been hoping to get him to bridal carry me, it would've embarrassed him a bit now, but once we had Asuna back was when I could really use the event to mess with him. Except I wasn't being carried in his arms.

He was giving me a piggyback ride.

"Comfy back there?" I felt my eye twitch at how, nice, his tone was. It was sweet enough to give a cavity.

"Not really." I ground out, though it seemed like he was ignoring me.

"Alright, which way?" I gave a grunt of disapproval before deciding to just accept it. There was little I could do and we needed to get moving.

I began to raise an arm to signal, "That wa-" I was cut off as I almost fell of, my arm snapping back down and grabbing a shoulder. I grit my teeth and leaned into Kirito's back. I knew Servants were fast, I'd seen Kirito sprint across town, but seeing it and experiencing it myself were very different.

'Left at the next intersection!' I gave up on opening my mouth and saying the words aloud, even if I could I doubted I'd be heard over the wind. And I was worried I'd swallow a bug.

Despite the speed it was surprisingly smooth, though I felt my body move up and down as Kirito moved it wasn't a sharp or sudden movement. Even when he used the side of a building to kick off for a turn it was a surprisingly comfortable movement.

Of course that didn't last long.

I felt the prana as a magus, and though Kirito wasn't one I knew he did too as a Servant. So rather than screaming a pointless warning I scrunched myself up and hid most of my head behind my Servant's body.

I felt the shift in our momentum as Kirito slowed, manifesting his dual swords directly into his hands rather than having them appear on his back where I'd get in the way. Twin pillars of earth, the ends sharpened into spears burst forth from the street in front of us. Kirito dodged the first, allowing it to pass by his side, and with a flick of Dark Repulser the second was reduced to fragments.

The attack didn't let up though, a fireball easily the size of a small car was forming above the road ahead of us. Even if Kirito could survive it the heat from just getting close to the thing would roast me alive.

Kirito didn't panic, and since he didn't neither did I. He settled into a familiar stance, one foot back and Elucidator held to his side, parallel to the ground. I didn't use a one handed sword in SAO, but even if I didn't memorize the Sword Skill list I would've recognized one of the Black Swordsman's favorite techniques.

The fireball shifted and lurched forward, even as Kirito lunged forwards, stabbing his sword into empty air as Vorpal strike triggered. I could feel the prana form into a lance that struck forwards, impaling the fireball and destroying its cohesion despite being far beyond the reach of his sword.

With a small flourish of his darker blade Kirito settled into a combat stance, and I took the small pause that erupted as my chance to hop off his back. I casually wiped a bit of dust off of my pants before reaching up to my shoulders and raising the hood on my coat.

I scanned the empty street for a moment, before noticing that Kirito had been staring at the same spot since the attacks stopped. I felt for my connection to the formalcraft we'd established earlier before my eyes widened in surprise.

It was gone.

"Caster, are you gonna reveal yourself or are we going right back to killing each other?" There was a brief moment of silence before the spot Kirito was staring at grew distorted, a moment later it faded and Caster was left standing there.

He didn't seem surprised or upset at being found, but with his back straight and eyes forwards he seemed to be, evaluating us.

"Master of Saber and Servant Saber, we did not have the chance to talk properly the first time we met."

"You're ambush didn't work so now you just wanna talk?" I only paid half an ear to their conversation, focusing on figuring what'd happened to my thaumaturgy.

"Is that so hard to believe Saber? I sought to take the advantage when I could, that opportunity was lost so now that the field is even I wish to sate my curiosity."

"I'd say we have the advantage based on how your ambush went over."

"You believe those were the only traps I'd have set? Nothing will change whether we begin our battle now or after our discussion." It was only after trying to sense for any sign of my mystery that I realized what'd happened.

"You broke my mystery, destroyed my formalcraft." There was a brief moment as Caster seemed to realize my first words were an accusation, before he nodded.

"Technically it was my master who did it. The spirits of air were able to know exactly what you were doing, and were helpful in finding your ritual and luring you here. Damaging your formalcraft was simple enough for my master."

My eyes narrowed, while we didn't need the mystery now that we'd found our target for the night it would've been convenient to have it still running. Knowledge on the approach of potential enemies and the location of any master's or Servants spectating would've been an advantage we could use.

I looked to Kirito to see him watching me, waiting for an answer. I didn't trust Caster, he probably wanted something out of any talks we had, and whatever he wanted would probably hurt us as much as it helped him. But at the same time there was a chance for us to get something out of him.

"Alright, let's chat. What did you want to ask?" Caster paused for a second, eyeing me up and down before speaking.

"A young girl, too young for the tragedies of this world, and her Servant, a boy on the cusp of manhood." I felt a bit of irritation rise at the reference to my age, but I killed the feeling quickly. He wasn't judging me or thinking less of me for it, like many of those who worked with SAO survivors did. He knew we were capable from our previous interactions, he just knew we were young too.

"What could ones as young as you desire from something as corrupt and evil as the grail?" The confusion came first, before the meaning of the words hit me like a ton of bricks. The grail, corrupted and evil? He had to be lying, the grail was nothing more than a ritual, an extremely complex ritual made up of many parts and even connected directly to the leylines of Fuyuki itself.

Putting aside any defense the grail has to prevent such a corruption the amount of power needed to actually damage something that large and potent, it was insane to think about. The kind of power that only the more dangerous Dead Apostles, the strongest of the long dead phantasmal beasts, and those at the pinnacle of Clock Tower could wield that kind of power. The grail being corrupted was impossible.

But we were talking about a ritual involving Heroic Spirits, doing the impossible was practically a prerequisite.

And this isn't the First Holy Grail War, it's the Sixth, the ritual had failed five times already, with thirty-five Servants being summoned and dying in the process. Could one of these Servants have held the unique ability to corrupt the Grail, as well as the motivation to use it?

"You're claiming the Grail is corrupted somehow?" My attention snapped back to reality as Kirito spoke. He seemed calm on the surface but I could tell his own thoughts were racing just as much as mine, he just didn't get caught up in them.

"You weren't aware? I understood it was common knowledge amoung magus."

"Common knowledge my ass." I couldn't help the outburst, even when I was talking to a being far more powerful than I. "I'm a Gikas, there's no way we wouldn't know if the Grail was corrupt." I took pride in that name, as a family we controlled information better than any other, and there was no way a development as big as this, that had been a focus of my parent's lives, would've gone unnoticed.

While I was starting to get a little pissed off at what I now assumed was Caster trying to trick us into giving up on the Grail War Caster himself seemed to have a revelation. I recognized well the look when the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

"That explains it then." I felt my anger begin to subside, as the confusion resurfaced. "Young Gikas, I know not why they would do so to their own blood but it seems your parents have been lying to you." I felt my eyes widen at what the man was implying. "For it was the Gikas family that was working so hard to hide the corruption of the Grail.

*line break*

I finished up my muttered chant, watching in satisfaction as the mystic lettering in front of me faded. I stood, stretching pleasantly as Archer stood lookout. I gazed over the remnants of the ritual in front of me, almost half of the runes making it up had been dispelled, and the various geometry that supported them was getting faded and weaker.

The mystery certainly wasn't working anymore, but to ensure that Gikas brat and her otaku Saber couldn't repair it would take much more work. That was fine though, Archer would warn me if they approached and if things really went south Shirou could ensure they had better things to worry about.

*line break*

I grit my teeth and blew air out my nose to calm down. My thoughts were racing with possibilities and problems, along with the worst case scenario. I'd failed to save Asuna again.

I shook that worry from my thoughts, choosing to focus on the immediate situation, the problems facing me now, what I could do about them, and nothing more. It seemed I wasn't the only one having problems like that.

'Argo, calm down. He might be lying, and even if he's not we can worry about that later. He's still an enemy.' I could feel a few stray thoughts and worries leak through our bond as Argo started to calm herself. It was in her nature to overthink things, and while that had saved lives back in SAO that thinking could wait until we weren't about to be killed.

"Let's say you are telling the truth, what would you and your master want with the Grail then?" Argo had managed to calm herself enough to start asking the right questions.

"My master is hopeful that as Caster I might be able to make the Grail safely useable, even in its current state. I told him I doubt that, I'm nothing but a spellcaster, even as a Servant something like the Grail is beyond my abilities." The Servant paused, giving a small sigh before the proud and intelligent eyes he'd had became filled with hate, rage, and bloodthirst.

"In the likely event I cannot my master plans to use it anyway, rather than trying to purge the evil or work around it he will simply give it a target, and allow the grail to be the tool for his vengeance. As one who has walked that path I cannot blame him for it, and even knowing where it ends I will aid him in walking it too."

I was taken aback momentarily by the dramatic shift, I had seen evil in men before, the murderers of laughing coffin certainly fit the bill, but this wasn't the same. This was not a man killing for joy, or greed, but killing because he hated those he had killed with every fiber of his being. He killed because unspeakable atrocities had been done unto him and while they could never be righted he would take everything from those who had wronged him.

While I was reeling from the change Argo was putting puzzles together in her head.

"Geronimo, the Bloody Devil, one who bathed in vengeance when his wife and children were murdered by mexican soldiers. A prudent and prideful man who lead the Apache warriors against invading mexican and american forces."

"Yes, that is my true name." Geronimo didn't bother denying it. "I sought a peaceful life with my family on the land of my ancestors, but it was taken from me along with my family. So I sought revenge. Now I aid my master in seeking the same."

"And why should we believe you? You wouldn't have told the mexican soldiers the truth." I spoke up, I wasn't too familiar with the name Geronimo, my studies on american history only brief and incomplete, but I knew of him, and knew the man in front of me well enough.

"No I wouldn't have." He admitted it without shame or hesitation. "But you are not my hated enemies, and besides, the evidence is right in front of you. The Grail was designed to summon only proper Heroic Spirits in the proper form of Servants in class containers." Geronimo paused as he eyed me. "That is not what you are."

"I don't know what you're body is to allow it, or what hero gave you their power, but you are not a standard Servant, your participation in the Grail War should not be allowed by the ritual itself, and yet here you are." I didn't respond, and neither did Argo.

I wasn't sure if that was even a thing, if the Grail War was meant to limit the types of Servants that could fight, Argo would know, except everything she knew about the Grail War was taught to her by her parents.

"I ask, now that you know the truth will you give up on the Grail?" I didn't wait for Argo's response, I knew what it would be and so gave my own.

"We're not quite ready to give up yet. And even if we are I'm still a Servant in this war, and that makes you my enemy." I sensed the conflict in Argo's thoughts settle as I spoke.

'We can figure out the complex stuff later, for tonight, let's focus on surviving and eliminating this threat.' I would've nodded but every muscle in my body was tense, Caster and I both knew that even the most minor twitch could kick off the fight at this point, and we were both looking for a way to tilt it to our favor.

As one, we moved.

*line break*

I stopped at the end of the street, reaching up to my ear again. "It's done, I'm heading to the rendezvous point." Rin didn't like it much when I used proper military terms and talk, but after the work tonight it came naturally. I shifted the now lighter backpack on my shoulders before moving on.

*line break*

A blade of wind was parted with Elucidator, and a golem sliced in two with Dark Repulser as my head tilted to the side, an arrow grazed my cheek, leaving an angry red line that was superficial at best. I would've advanced on Caster to try and beat him but something else was more important at the moment.

In a movement that was too fast for a normal human to track I leapt across the street and got back in front of Argo, even as the cement in front of her was torn out of the ground. Pieces of it forming into spikes about a dozen centimeters long before launching themselves at the information broker.

My swords lashed out in a dance, slicing the projectiles in the air. I couldn't dodge or else they'd strike Argo. The attacks weren't much of a threat individually, one that I couldn't block struck my shoulder, and while it would bruise it didn't even tear through the wyvern leather of my coat, but there was far more than one or two of them. A dozen or more hits could easily hamper my ability to fight, especially if Caster continued to target Argo.

I felt Argo reach out and touch my back, and despite the sudden contact in the middle of a fight I didn't find myself flinching. 'I'll stick to your back so you can protect me, you take on Caster.' I gave Argo a mental nod through the master Servant link, before starting to walk forwards slowly, slowly for a Servant at least.

The storm of earth abated and was replaced by three golems rushing me as Caster continued to chant. A pause on a single step and a Double Circular Sword Skill ended the three of them. Using the Sword Skills as a Servant was strange, I had only felt it click how to use them earlier this night when I activated Vorpal Strike. It felt very close to how it had in the game, though it lacked the post-motion delay and was a little more lenient with the startup positions.

I could feel the way the attacks pulled at the prana reserves I was getting from Argo, and despite having never used most of my Sword Skills as a Servant and having only a basic idea of what prana even was I knew clearly how much prana each technique would cost.

Two more arrows were shot out, both cut down alongside several small balls of flame. I paused as I felt for Argo's position, using the Servant bond to make sure she was ready for my next move. She was soon.

I leapt forward by activating Rage Spike, moving even faster that I could normally as a Servant. Despite the sudden burst of speed and the attack Geronimo was prepared. The bow he held was tossed aside as a wooden spear manifested in his hands. The shaft blocking my upwards swing even as the tip sought blood.

A few traded blows and I had the advantage, until the ground under my feet started to shift and soften, the concrete of the road being churned and replaced with mud. I grit my teeth, I had been hoping to end the Caster here but if this lasted any longer he'd target Argo.

The Gengetsu skill from Martial Arts let me perform a backflip despite the unsure terrain. I had learned the skill to make use of my off hand in Aincrad before I received Dual Blades, but even now with that floating castle behind me it still had its uses.

Three small throwing picks flew towards Caster as I leapt. While they were minor issues at best Argo's attack did prevent Caster from targeting me or her while I was in the air. And by the time a blade of wind sought Argo's head I was there to part it.

I could see the path to victory, every move we made had Caster on the back foot, while he was more than capable of injuring and killing Argo I was every bit as capable of defending her, more so since this was far from the first time we'd fought together.

And on the flip side Caster had difficulty harming me, my magic resistance was low for a Saber but Geronimo was an unorthodox Caster, every bit as skilled with his weapons as spells. My resistance was enough to protect me from all but his most powerful of mysteries, and when it came to weaponry I was his superior.

It was only a matter of time before we pushed Caster too much, and he either slipped up or ran out of prana. There was his Noble Phantasm to fear, Argo wasn't sure what in his legend his Noble Phantasm would be, but I was confident we could handle it.

For now though the mud cut off our advance, it was deep and thick and while I could fight through it trying to keep Argo safe with reduced movement in terrain so thickly influenced by the enemies magecraft was a bad idea. I had a better one.

Even if Argo called me an idiot in my mind she complied, jumping up and grabbing onto my back in a small lapse of attacks. As the next wave of mystical attacks came I started running, I got close to the building on the side of the street before hopping up and starting to run on the side of the buildings.

I went around Geronimo's attacks and the physical hazard he'd setup, leaping leaping off of the building and turning in midair to face the enemy Servant as I skidded at the landing. Argo let go quickly, dropping to her feet.

Caster was surprise at the move, but didn't let that stop him. With a short chant and an arm movement five golems sprouted from the earth and began to rush us. Argo crouched, sticking close to me and the ground. We dashed forwards together, a Vertical Square turned the first pair of golems to dust, the second was pierced by a dagger that Argo threw, a dagger that quickly exploded.

The last two lumbered forwards, the first lunged its fist at me, two swings separated the limb at the shoulder and the torso in half. The last was split in half by a simple Slant.

I looked to Caster, prepared for the next wave of attacks to notice he was chanting still. I was getting ready to take advantage of his late attack when I heard something else. The sound of a machine gun revving.

I looked to the side in a panic, peering into the entrance of an alleyway that we'd been unable to see before due to the angle. Sitting there was a pickup truck, Caster's master, the man who we were told was dismantling Argo's magecraft, was sitting in the back, arms gripping the twin triggers of a minigun.

Even as fire started spewing forth from the guns barrels I positioned myself in front of Argo, she wouldn't be able to stop or avoid the bullets herself, and while she may survive a few rounds I doubted this man would stop at a few. Not with the length of the belt that layed in the back of the truck.

The bullets shot at a semi-random pattern, the deviation from their path due to the inherent inaccuracy of such a weapon actually made deflecting the bullets harder. I felt my heart beat faster and my pupils dilate as I pushed my senses and reactions to the limits. I felt it as I used my swords to stop the bullets, they were loaded with prana, every single bullet.

It wasn't much in each, but I knew very well it was enough to harm me, knew it even better when a stray round pierced my leg. My teeth grit harder as I felt myself pulling more prana from Argo as the world slowed down. The wound didn't slow me down but only drove me to go faster, things started to click in my head and I found deflecting each round to get easier and easier with time.

Then I started to see them, thin red lines stretching across my vision, tracing the path of the bullets, the paths they would take.

I don't know if it was just my strained brain running through far too much thinking trying to track the bullets or a manifestation of some ability I had as a Servant, but I used it. With the lines I was able to plan my defense better, I knew which bullets I needed to block, or else they'd hit Argo behind me, which ones I could ignore or avoid entirely, and which ones I could turn into grazing hits, dealing insignificant damage.

Suddenly I felt like I could keep this up forever, or at least until Caster's master had run out of bullets. But then I saw Caster out of the corner of my eye, still performing his ritual. I didn't know what he was doing but if I didn't stop him soon then he'd be able to finish it. Alone I couldn't defeat this combination of Caster and his master.

But I wasn't alone.

As I spun my body, laying Elucidator across the back of my arm to deflect four bullets one after the other, Argo launched three small throwing picks past me. The first missed by a narrow margin, the second bounced uselessly off the metal, but the third lodged itself in between two of the rotating barrels of the minigun.

There was a groaning of metal in the sudden silence as the gunfire ceased. Immediately I turned and began to charge Geronimo, ready to interrupt him from finishing his spellwork. It was too late.

"Elemental spirit, the Sun! Lend power to me for a while, and give it now! The great mischief... Tsago Degi Naleya!" I felt the rush of power as a physical force, and without even listening to his chant I knew this was his Noble Phantasm. I halted my charge, Argo finding her place in my shadow yet again. I raised both swords and swallowed the lump in my throat. I needed to be ready to act in whatever way I could to defend myself and Argo.

There was a flash of gold before it appeared, a dark coyote, large enough that even on all fours it was as tall as the Minotaur had been. It paused next to Geronimo, before sitting down and looking to the sky. The howl was loud, but more than that it was powerful, I could feel the prana in the beast's voice, actually see the way it empowered Geronimo.

I thought that would be it, that maybe now Caster could challenge me on equal physical footing, or perhaps surpass me, and that was his Noble Phantasm, but I was wrong. The real thing was only starting.

At first I thought we'd lost track of time, that the battle had dragged on and the sun was rising. I was both right, and wrong. It was the sun that was blinding me, but it was still the dead of night.

A giant ball of glowing plasma, trails of flame leaping out of it before falling back in. It was without a doubt, 'the sun', even as it hovered in the air above our battle, the buildings next to it already glowing red in the heat.

I felt myself grow uncomfortable in the heat, but it quickly grew worse. Argo was already making distance and I couldn't blame her. I was a Servant with magic resistance, and already I could feel my exposed skin start to sting, what this would do to a human after extended exposure wasn't something I was eager to see, especially not on a friend.

I grit my teeth and pushed forwards, standing here in indecision would only allow the sun to burn me further, I'd have to finish this quickly or else the damage over time would do me in. I lead with twin slashes from both of my swords, I expected that even if he managed to avoid them both he'd be forced to back up. If I could get him away from the sun I'd win, and if the sun simply followed him around then I'd at least be buying Argo more space.

Instead though he spun the spear in his hands, using the rebound from blocking my first strike to intercept the following. A second later I was the one fored back as I avoided a thrust. I could feel the heat off the pavement through the soles of boots, feel the way my skin started to flake in the sun.

It felt like I was fighting a Lancer rather than a Caster, while Geronimo had always been every bit as skilled as other martial Servants now he had the strength and speed to back it up. I kept swinging though, pushing him back while desperately searching for a weakness to exploit. I found it in a tiny nick on the shaft of his weapon.

Geronimo's weapons were inherently disposable, it was a part of his legend, he fought until he was out of arrows and his spear was broken, until all he had in his hands was a knife. Unlike most Servants who fought with nigh indestructible Noble Phantasms Caster's weapons, while mystical, were destructible.

I kept swinging, battering away at the spear, aiming for those parts that were weaker, where damage from its earlier use had piled up. I used Elucidator to deflect a thrust, Geronimo kept both hands on the shaft, evenly placed with the weapon perpendicular to the ground. There were no openings for me to attack Geronimo, but plenty for me to target the weapon.

Dark Repulser glowed with prana as I launched a Sword Skill, two attacks landed with almost no time between them, two swings from the left and the right bit into the wood of the shaft, and the Snake Bite Sword Skill broke the weapon in two.

Caser wasted no time, the two pieces were dropped before they started to vanish, a knife materializing into his right hand. I stepped forwards to attack, feeling the now melting pavement give under my foot as I did. Now that Caster was down to his last weapon he'd be vulnerable, ill-prepared for direct combat with another Servant, even with his Noble Phantasm active to support him.

That idea flew out the window after the first exchange of blows.

Caster ducked under the first swing, then used his knife to deflect the second before rushing at me and trying to gut me with his blade. Rather than being weaker now that he held an inferior weapon Caster had never fought better. He fought like a skilled boxer, slipping in the tiniest of gaps to avoid my attacks, and when there were none making them himself, before rushing in close for his own chance to attack.

It was exactly how a dagger wielder was supposed to fight, except no dagger wielder should've been able to deal with the extra weight and reach of a sword, not to mention two. Rather than pushing him back I found myself being driven away instead. I felt my teeth grind even more, knowing that if I wasn't a Servant I'd have destroyed them by now. The crack of gun fire reminded me why I had to rush this once again, and with a roar to bolster my own will I pushed forwards again.

*line break*

I cursed mentally that I'd been separated from Kirito again, of course this time there'd been no helping it. Kirito needed to take out Caster, and if I got too close to that Noble Phantasm of his I'd be cooked alive.

Of course if that just meant hiding in some random alley until the fight was over I'd be fine, but no, here I was dodging gunfire from Caster's master, Spenser. I pushed my back up against the side of the dumpster, my chest heaving as several rounds flew past the side of it. Spenser wasn't taking it easy this time either, the minigun, while the best of the military equipment he'd brought, was only the start of it.

I was counting the rounds, ready to run out and charge the walking arsenal once his modified M16 ran out of rounds in the magazine. Just as I was getting ready to charge the guy and let my claws do some talking I heard something clatter and skid across the ground. My eyes went wide as I saw it. Was that a-

There was an explosion even as I ran out from behind the dumpster, ducking behind a corner to avoid the shrapnel. Or at least, more of the shrapnel, I groaned at the impact on my back, glad that my coat's enchantments had held out enough that my clothes were the only thing damaged.

I almost banged my head on the wall as the mercenary opened fire again. His grenade had bought him time to reload and I had no idea how many more of the things he was carrying, so I couldn't just keep running from cover to cover forever. I looked to the wall behind me, and suddenly had an idea. It was a bad one too, stupid enough that it might get me killed, or it could just work. It was the kind of asinine idea Kirito would come up with, and that's why I knew it would work.

I didn't wait for the shooting to stop, but just started running. Not out of cover, but towards the opposite wall of the alley. My reinforcement pushed as far as I dared I managed to get six steps up the wall before my momentum died. I turned my body and leapt.

I could see the shock running across Spenser's face as I came flying at him from ten meters in the air. He tried to bring his gun up to shoot at me but it was too late. I kicked him in the head as I fell, his gun hit the pavement and slid across the ground. I considered going for it but I didn't know what enchantments were on it, and there weren't many rounds left in the magazine anyway.

I went to kick the master of Caster while he was down but he rolled away and sprung to his feet, hands coming up in a boxer's stance. My own eyes narrowed at him but I slipped my hands into my coat, sliding on the clawed gauntlets my decidedly more dangerous hands entered their own stance.

I dashed forwards, ready to end the fight by simply shredding the muscles in my opponents arms. But rather than part and bleed like flesh was meant to when it met steel my weapons bounced off his forearms, and I didn't even have the time to be surprised before he clocked me in the face.

I stumbled back but had the peace of mind to guard my head with my arms. The next punch only hit my steel covered forearms, but even then I could feel the force rattle my bones and bruise my flesh. It was only as I heard Kirito curse in his mind about an OP Caster that I realized what was happening.

'The Noble Phantasm is powering Spenser up too! You need to take it down before he takes me down.' I started moving back but didn't like the way my opponent eyed his dropped firearm. I managed to kick it away but took a blow to the shoulder as the price for the move.

'I don't know if I can.' I 'heard' Kirito grind out the words, he was so focused on his fight that I wasn't sure if they were even thoughts directed at me or at himself. 'I still don't know what Noble Phantasms I have, or if any of them could do anything about something like that!'

I swore under my breath, feeling the metal in one of my gauntlets dent and a claw snap as Spenser threw a punch. There was one way, but-aw fuck it. I felt the rush of power as I triggered a command seal. We were never going to win the Grail War at this rate.

But if Caster was telling the truth maybe we didn't want to.

*line break*

'Stop Caster's Noble Phantasm.' I honestly didn't know if I could do it, not until I felt the command seal take effect. I suddenly felt something else take hold over my body, it wasn't like the first time a command seal had been used on me. Then it was a much simpler command, 'Come forth', granted it had teleported me halfway across town in an instant but that was it, one and done.

This was different, I could feel my actions being guided by something outside my control. I could resist if I wanted, but I didn't, I could feel understanding dawn on me as the knowledge needed to make this work rushed to me.

I jumped away from Caster, the enemy Servant let me disengage. The longer I was exposed to his sun the weaker I got and the easier it'd be for him to kill me. That was his mistake.

I dismissed both my swords, I only needed one hand but two would make this easier and if Caster wasn't attacking then I didn't need to other to defend myself. A new sword and sheath appeared, unlike my other weapons it appeared not on my back but my hip.

I drew the sword with care, this one every bit as pitch black as Elucidator but unlike the other blade this wasn't one forged from metal, but carved from wood. I raised the sword in front of me, clasping the grip with both hands, and began to chant.

Caster seemed to realize I was using a Noble Phantasm and decided to intervene, balls of flame, powered by the sun in the sky shot towards me. Even as I continued to chant I swung my blade, the ebony blade grew longer, cutting straight through the spells before they could grow close to me.

I paused my chant, and raised the sword so it was next to my face, held parallel to the ground and ready to be thrust.

"Enhance Armament!" I screamed the words as sword in my hands came to life. The weapon began to grow and expand more, sucking in the prana around it, in particular it drew on the power of Caster's Noble Phantasm, the power of the sun.

This sword was carved from the top of a tree that stood over seventy meters tall for almost three-hundred years. It was a sword that greedily ate the life around it to expand itself, growing and growing until its massive size was uncontested.

When used it released its original form, that of a massive tree as hard as diamond propelled towards the enemy, but it also released its original purpose, absorbing energy to grow further, to grow stronger. And what energy is more fitting for a tree's growth than sunlight?

The sword in my hand grew heavier as it grew larger and denser, soon it looked like I carrying a column and felt like I was holding a truck, the sun in the sky meanwhile grew weaker, flames no longer spilt from its surface and the light that once made night feel like day now felt like someone had left a dying lightbulb on.

I thrust the sword forwards, sending its true form flying out towards Geronimo. The coyote tried to intervene on behalf of its master. It was the guardian beast of the Apache, a protector of its people, its ethereal form was blown away as the black mass continued unhindered.

I let the sword fall to my side, panting over what was left of the street in front of me. What hadn't been scorched or melted by the power of the sun was torn up and destroyed by my own attack. The sun itself had already faded, as had the Servant who summoned it. I was just starting to calm down when I remembered there was one enemy left.

I ran down the street before turning into one of the alleys, using my bond with Argo to find her. I didn't like what I found. Caster's master stood over Argo, one of his arms was bleeding heavily but grasping onto one of Argo's despite that, the other was the one that had me truly concerned. In that hand he held a grenade, the pin already pulled, and the only thing stopping it from going off his finger.

"Just give me the damn command seal!" I heard the panic in his voice as he yelled his demands at Argo, my own eyes narrowed as I realized what this was about. I was getting ready to take him from behind when he turned and saw me.

"Don't come any closer, or you don't get any prana from either of us!" There was madness in his voice as he said it, even he wasn't sure if he could do anything before I got to him and got Argo away, but I wasn't going to take that risk.

I paused and raised my sword again, there was enough power left in it from the sun to do this without drawing prana from Argo, something the other magus might be able to detect. I made sure Argo was ready before I acted, and her struggles ceased. The former Master must've thought she was giving in or getting ready to try something else because he looked to her, and that was when I acted.

My sword flicked out, quickly growing to the right length until it sliced Spenser's arm clean off. I ignored his cussing to make sure Argo followed up on the opening, jumping and using both of hr legs to kick off of his chest. The man lifted his finger from the explosive, whether to make good on his threat or simply by accident I'd never know, regardless I jumped in front of Argo, catching her and using my own body to shield her from the blast.

We were flung across the alley, I twisted during our flight so that rather than crushing Argo under my weight I hit the wall back first. I felt my butt hit the ground as we fell, not because I was too injured to stand and catch myself but simply because I was exhausted. I let out a breath of air, relieved it was over, and that we had not only survived, but been victorious.

Argo didn't seem as ready to relish in our triumph though, not that I could blame her. She looked to Caster's master, or at least what was left of him, before looking to me, biting her lower lip.

"Kirito, what he said, about the grail-"

"I know." I cut her off, that was a dark path and while it was one we needed to explore that didn't mean we needed to explore it now. "We can deal with that in the morning, for now we need to get your house and get ourselves fixed up."

Argo went back to gnawing on her lip, I was a bit worried she'd draw blood but before my worry could become real she gave a heaving sigh and nodded, seeming defeated. I was worried about her, but we were tired, weak, injured, and still fighting a war. We needed to get safe for now and deal with the rest later.

*line break*

"Gikas and Saber are nearing position, if you and Archer are ready we can start." I paused as I waited for Rin's response. My original plan would have been much simpler, and while Saber would have likely survived, weakened and without a master it would have been easy for me and Archer to finish him.

However Archer had been insistent on sparing the girl, even after knowing who she was. And Rin wasn't willing to damage her trust with her Servant or use a command seal when we had a perfectly serviceable alternative available.

I wasn't happy about it of course, this method had a lot more room for things to go wrong, and knowing my luck they would. But like always Rin proved she was the one in charge, not me, and here I was waiting for the okay to proceed.

I got it, and after one final to check to make sure I had everything ready I grabbed the handheld switch, flipping the safety off on it, before pulling the trigger.

*line break*

A dull boom echoed through the night and my eyes snapped in the direction of the sound. Argo and I had been crossing the bridge separating the newer part of Fuyuki where'd we been fighting and the older area where Argo's house was. Judging by the explosion it seemed we weren't the only participants in the war who were fighting tonight, and I found myself wondering who else was facing battle.

My reaction was far more subdued than Argo's, she ran towards the railing grabbing it as she stared in the direction of the blast. "No, no, no, no!" I blinked, surprised at the reaction, Argo either recognized my confusion or she was just looking for a chance to yell about her misfortune.

"That was my house!" My eyes widened in surprise as I realized what happened, then again when I felt two sources of prana light up the night. I spun, my battle equipment manifesting itself alongside Dark Repulser and Elucidator just in time to deflect the first arrow, a wooden shaft, followed by the next a twisted and changed sword that exploded on contact.

I ignored the explosion, even weakened as I was I was more than capable of pushing through a few dozen of those so long as they weren't a direct hit. Argo went low, the hood of her coat going up as she ran off, Archer and Emiya were clearly targeting me rather than my master and while I wouldn't question the small piece of good fortune we got tonight I was more than happy for Argo to take advantage of it.

It was surprising, it was the first time I had been forced to defend against both of the sniper's full power at once and yet I found it strangely easy. The red lines I'd seen while fending off gunfire earlier continued to appear, and with them what was before a demanding challenge was instead simply a task that demanded my full attention.

I could keep this up all night, and after the a few minutes it seemed the enemy realized that too. While the wooden arrows from Archer continued the demented swords that Emiya fired stopped, I was confused at first, and then grew concerned as the amount of prana he was giving off grew and grew.

It was already at the level of a Noble Phantasm!

I stared out towards the skyscraper the mercenary magus was on, if that thing hit me there would be nothing I could do, and I'm sure Argo knew the same thing. I could feel her worry bleed over the link between us but I remained calm, I could stop it, I knew I could.

It had been happening over time, more and more knowledge on my abilities as a Servant bleeding over to me. At first it had been combat instincts, honed even beyond what I'd had in SAO the difference was minor enough that I hadn't noticed at the time, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Next it'd been my first, simplest, and arguably weakest Noble Phantasm, Equipment from Many Games, I'd learned how to better use it, what I could and couldn't draw from it, and eventually used the giant blade I called forth with it to end the minotaur.

Next had been the Sword Skills, it was something that had creeped up on me, between one battle and then I had begun using them without thinking about it, integrating them into my fighting as instinctively as I had done in Aincrad. Even the red lines were likely some aspect of my abilities as a Servant, it was much more likely than me going crazy at least.

Then there was my newest Noble Phantasm. When Argo used the command seal to have me stop Caster she'd inadvertently given me intimate knowledge of a weapon I'd never held, and the ramifications of that had my mind still reeling.

Other parts of my identity as 'Servant Saber' were falling into place, things I had no idea how to do before now seemed simple and easy, and while activating a Noble Phantasm was never simple or easy I now knew how to do that far better than before, and one of them could stop this.

I felt the prana Emiya had been using flare one more time as he prepared to fire his attack, the assault from Archer paused as she allowed her ally to finish me. I spun on my heel, facing towards the attack.

"Dark Repulser!" There was a flare of light as I triggered the swords effect, the blade was forged for me by Lisbeth, a weapon that despite the impossibility of it I knew would last until the end of the game. I was right in a way, it was there that the sword failed when I did, and rather than costing me my life, Asuna had sacrificed her own.

That sacrifice had saved my own life, and gave me the chance to land the final blow against Kayaba to end the game, even if I gave up my life at the same time. An act of mercy from the game's creator allowed Asuna and I to survive the end of SAO, and even if the sacrifice that ended the game wasn't a permanent one it was remembered by the blade I held.

Dark Repulser, when the sword was destroyed as a sacrifice, would guarantee the next attack landed true, no matter what obstacles lay in the path. I felt a twinge of sadness as the sword shattered into fragments, even if I had others that blade was special, and to have it broken and lost was upsetting, but between this and my life the choice was obvious.

I swung Elucidator as Emiya's attack moved forwards, time slowed to a halt as a line was drawn across the sky, space itself twisting at the passing of the weapon. But that didn't matter, nor did it matter that the weapon Emiya had fired at me was still a kilometer away, I swung Elucidator and the night was purged as ball of light and sound erupted in the skies above Fuyuki.

I ignored the light show, it would blind or stun the two snipers, but not for long. I ignored Argo's surprise, grabbing her and without pausing at her protests, jumped off the side of the bridge. The water's cold embrace was far more welcome than the continued fire of the two enemies.

*line break*

"They escaped." I could hear the annoyance in Shirou's voice as he spoke in my ear. He hadn't liked this plan to begin with, this wouldn't be the last I heard of his predictions of the plan's failure, though the real teasing would probably wait until we were back at his house, safe for the night.

"It's fine, we've forced him to use a Noble Phantasm, and cost Gikas her base of operations. Even if she has somewhere else to stay she won't have the same protections and resources there.

"Her protections won't matter if we can't find her again." I felt my face flush a bit at the immediate response, and I began to sputter.

"We-we'll find them again. They're not just gonna stick their heads in a hole for the rest of the war." Atalanta was being silent, she was the main reason we'd gone with this plan after all, even if I wanted to end the Gikas brat my Servant was much more merciful.

"And why would you assume that? We have no way to track them down now, and Gikas showed great desire to hide herself away before we found her the first time." My hand closed in a fist and began to shake, I hated how much he ended up like that man, even if he was a hundred times better in the most important ways. Still, I couldn't deny it was my fault he's such a smart ass. I took secret pride in that when I wasn't busy being pissed at him.

"Whatever, it's too late for this tonight. We should take what we've got and head home." I pouted a bit before nodding, I knew he couldn't see me, but he'd understand my silence, the sigh I got in response told me I was right about that.

*line break*

I shivered as I hugged myself a bit, cursing under my breath as I readied a mystery to dry myself off. I didn't care that we were out at night in the middle of the Grail War, that my prana levels were getting dangerously low, or even that Kirito was getting worried.

I was pissed off. I was angry at Tohsaka and Emiya, confused about how they'd not only found my house, but blown it up, conflicted about even being in this damn war in the first place with the state of the grail uncertain, and just tired. I wanted to go home and sleep for a few hours, but now I didn't have a home to sleep in.

"Argo."

"I'm fine Kirito." I said it, but I knew it wasn't the truth, and so did Kirito.

"You're not, I know you aren't. You can't be, you were raised to fight in this war right? You're parents dedicated their lives to it, whether they lied to you or not. And we've both put our lives on the line for the Grail, and now we find out it might not even be real."

"Yeah, why would you understand?" I hated myself as I snapped at Kirito, he was only trying to help, he'd saved my life several times this night alone and here I was yelling at him.

"Because this was supposed to be how I saved Asuna." I flinched a bit at his words, the feeling of them hurt more than the injuries I'd taken fighting. "But that's fine. Well, not fine really, I still need to help Asuna, but that's not the only reason I'm here." My raging emotions faded into confusion, confusion Kirito seemed to notice.

After a sigh and slumped shoulders he walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm here because you asked for help, you're like me, you never ask for help. Sure, a favor every once in a while, maybe you'll hire me for a job with col or information, but never ask for help. And the one time you do ask, you say only I can help. Well, how can I say no?"

I closed in on myself, feeling my cheeks flush a bit. "You're stupid you know that?" He just laughed it off. Damnit when had that stupid awkward kid from the beta become such a good friend. I let out a puff of air and nodded to myself.

"Fine, let's go then."

"Go where?" It was his turn to be confused now.

"The only place we can get answers we know are right. We're gonna go see the overseer."

*line break*

I paused as we approached the doors of the church. I hadn't reported my participation to the overseer at the start of the war, partly because there had been problems with their impartiality in the last two wars, and partly because of how stupid it was to simply give out sensitive information.

Now though my most dangerous enemies knew who I was, the war was already in full swing with two Servants dead and there was information I needed. Comforted by Kirito's presence behind me I pushed open the door, noting the overseer was already there waiting for us.

"Oh my, guests this late? Have you come to confess your sins, I'll try to listen but there's only so many hours before morning service and I need to get the bibles out." I felt my eye twitch at the woman's words, but did my best to ignore what she was implying.

"I assure you this shouldn't take long, I'm simply here to ask you a few questions as fitting of your role as the overseer, Caren Hortensia." The current overseer had served since the end of the Fifth War, and was someone that my family had gotten quite adept at avoiding the attentions of.

"Ah, I should've known, no one would come at this time of night unless they were involved in that dreadful business. So, to what do I owe the displeasure?" Even without the link I could tell what Kirito wanted to know, 'Is she for real?', the easy answer was, yes and no.

Hortensia was known for her barbed comments spoken in the sweetest voice, and while it wouldn't be too bad if they were just ignorant comments, they rang with some semblance of truth more often than not, and it was that hint of truth that stung all the worse.

How many people were dead because of this war? A war that my family might have caused. And now I had Kirito involved, out here in a war that didn't concern him when he should be searching for a way to free Asuna.

I brushed those thoughts aside, he was here and so was I, no changing that. I'd just have to do my best to pay him back afterwards. That said I still needed to figure out how I was going to ask this nun my questions. Well, best to just jump in the deep end.

"My name is Arete Gikas, I'm the master of Saber and I have some questions regarding the state of the Grail and the War."

*line break*

My head snapped to the side in confusion. The sun was just starting to rise and I'd been working on breakfast preparations. It was a sunday, which meant no school and no work for Taiga, of course she'd still be coming over to eat anyway but not for another few hours. I paused in my work, pulling the apron off and tossing it on the counter as I walked out of the kitchen.

The doorbell rang again, whoever was there was impatient. Maybe it was Fuji-nee and she simply forgot there was no school. Regardless the bounded field hadn't reacted so whoever it was didn't have any malicious intentions.

I reached for the door knob, pulling it open to see who was on the other side. I was ready to give a greeting but the words died in my throat at seeing who was there.

"Hello Emiya, Saber and I are here to discuss the possibility of an alliance."


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: Oh boy, it's been a while since I've done this and man does it feel good to be back. First of all, I'm gonna do the usual and apologize for the long unplanned hiatus, shit got rough, shit got busy, and unfortunately shit is gonna stay busy. As far as free time goes I'm gonna be very limited in what I have for the foreseeable future, I'm gonna do my to keep working on this stuff, but I might not be able to sink more than a couple of hours a week on fanfics, and that means each chapter will take almost a month. Still, I'm gonna try, and maybe once I get back into the groove I can pick up the pace.**

 **As for what I'll be writing, as much as my larger reading base would prefer AtB, FGG is the story I'm enjoying the most, and also the story the most well planned out, and closest to finishing. I'll be focusing most of my attentions here, at least until I hit a block, my most effective strategy with dealing with those in the past has simply been to work on something else so that's what I'll do.**

 **Now, on news more related to this story, it's getting really close to being done, I'd estimate 4, maybe 5 more chapters, plus an epilogue and potentially some omake ideas I've had. A lot of the plans I've been working with since the start are coming together now, and it's time to start tying up loose ends, that means I'm gonna be trying even harder to make sure I do my ideas and you all right, and doing my best with my writing.**

 **Thanks for being so patient and supportive with this, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Against my better judgement I'd let the two in. I doubted their motives were pure, while an alliance in a Grail War wasn't too rare under these circumstances one was unthinkable. Alliances were normally founded for one of two reasons, either an enemy in the war was too powerful to be beaten without multiples Servants joining together, or if something in the war was threatening to reveal the secret of magecraft.

We had actually made a temporary alliance based on the first of the two in the Fifth war, Berserker had been too great of a threat within his domain and rather than killing each other off we'd allied to eliminate the threat. Now though, there was no threat. Assassin, Rider, and Lancer were still unknowns, but Saber had personally killed both of the dead Servants, he was the greatest present threat in the Grail War, and while it was likely one of the other three Servants would take that place from him, for now there was nothing for us to ally against.

The timing of this was even worse, last night Saber had killed Caster, the clean and effective use of his Noble Phantasm to trump Caster's own, before using what was likely a second Noble Phantasm to counter the ambush Archer and I had set up, Gikas should be comfortable in her current position, cautious of course, but comfortable enough to simply continue her current course for the rest of the war.

Instead here she sat, next to her Servant at my table. Atalanta was watching over her as Rin made herself presentable and I continued on the food. She looked beaten and bruised, probably because she was. Her coat was torn up, though she hadn't removed it at the door or since, and there were a few bruises on her one arm I'd managed to spy. She even winced or flinched in pain a few times when she thought no one was looking.

I wasn't sure what she'd been doing in the hours since our skirmish, clearly she hadn't had a backup base prepared. Either too cocky to think she'd need it or too young to realize it could be an issue, for a magus at her age it could be either. Maybe she'd been searching for one and had failed? Was she so desperate after last night she'd try to trick us into housing her?

And then there was her Servant.

I'd seen it before, from a distance, and thought it was just presence concealment. He was fully manifested, yet despite that there was no signature of a Servant from him. There was a slight prana signature, it was a smell that was almost 'modern', a mixture of technology and urban living. It was different from his scent as a Servant, if I didn't know any better I'd think the boy was a third rate magus.

He looked better than his master, his own clothes undamaged, though his exposed skin had a raw look to it, like the layer above had just been peeled off and the current one wasn't fully grown. There were a few scratches across his face too, lines that had likely been deeper cuts but were now just small red marks. Either the Servant wasn't getting enough prana from his master after the fighting last night or Caster had managed to apply some kind of curse that the Servant's body had been fighting against instead.

Rin came out of the hall, pausing as she looked over our sudden guests. A look of disgust crossed her face, like her entire wonderful day had been ruined by their presence, before she dismissed them and walked to the table and sat down. The look wasn't entirely faked.

I walked to the table, bringing Rin a cup of tea and setting it in front of her, before turning and returning to the kitchen, ignoring the other two sitting there empty handed. Everything from the moment they knocked on the door to the moment they'd leave was a part of negotiations, whatever they wanted from us we needed to make it as hard to get as possible, while gaining as much out of the deal as possible.

If we even formed a deal.

Rin took her time, slowly blowing on the tea, before taking a sip. She seemed to look back over to the two younger people at the table before sighing, as if this was a chore she was forced to unjustly perform, and then finally spoke up.

"What do you two want again?" I left my place in the kitchen to observe, standing in the back I could sense the flash of anger on the girl. It was quickly squashed though, whether out of effort of will or her Servant's unspoken words I didn't know. But she soon opened her mouth to answer.

"As I told Emiya, we are here to make an alliance." Her words were even, and careful. Meant not to offend, but as a sort of olive branch to try and do things cordially.

Rin proceeded to take a hatchet to that olive branch.

"Yes, I know what you told Shirou, I want to know what you actually want." Rin gave the girl a look that said, 'do you really think I'm that stupid?', before continuing to talk.

"Is it information, knowledge on my Servant's identity or Shirou's magecraft? Reparations for the the damage dealt to your home and workshop? Or are you so desperate after last night that you come crawling to us to beg for table scraps?" There was look in Rin's eyes, a look of disgust and hate that would've made Gilgamesh double take.

"This is a war. I do not care that you are young or inexperienced, there will be no mercy from me." There was more rage from Gikas, a surge of rebellious spirit as she stared up at the older woman.

"I'm not asking for mercy. I came into this war, ready to fight, kill, and die for a powerful wish granting artifact, something to do what I cannot. And after last night I learned that is not what the Grail is." It took me a second to realize what the girl was implying, it took Rin less.

"You expect me to believe, that you, the last Gikas, who has been living in Furuki your entire life without permission, weren't even aware of the Grails corruption?" There was no fraudulent rage or indignation in her voice this time, it was real.

"What you believe does not change the facts. I don't know why but my parents lied to me, raised me to fight in a war without knowing what I was actually fighting for. And once my parents died, well, I wasn't exactly able to do my own research. I was, unavoidably occupied, until just before the Grail War." The way the girl said it failed to completely hide that it was an uncomfortable subject for her.

"Yes, yes." Rin waved dismissively as she spoke. "We know you were hiding yourself among the players of Sword Art Online, a clever place to hide a magus, among comatose gamers. I'll give you credit for that even if those at Clocktower would have you hung as a heretic." Shock ran across the girl again, either at the level of knowledge we had or at the accusation.

"That, was not the reason I became a player in Sword Art Online."

"I don't believe you." Rin barely gave the girl a chance to respond.

"As I said, what you believe doesn't change the facts."

"But it does change your odds of getting an alliance out of me. As we stand now I have no reason to trust you, you would have to do a lot to change that." I could see the way the girl clenched her fist under the table, she clearly wanted to lash out, but was holding herself back.

"I am willing to discuss the terms of a potential geas." A geas, a mystic contract signed by two parties that would force them to obey its contents. It was actually a feasible means of getting an alliance between two parties prone to mistrust one another. But it wasn't what Rin was aiming for.

"Hmm, no. I don't think I'll be discussing terms for a geas with a Gikas, a family famed for finding loopholes in anything, who has a Servant alongside her that may be able of breaking or ignoring the contract no matter what clauses we add." Rin spoke with casual dismissal, drumming her fingers across the table in front of her and not even looking at the Master of Saber.

"Well, you haven't kicked us out yet. What do you want to discuss then?" The girl snapped at Rin, her anger getting the best of her. Rin simply paused, humming for a bit in pretend thought before speaking up and pointing to me.

"Give your command seals to Shirou over there. He was master of Saber in the previous war and is more than capable of filling the role again. You can leave us to win the war and destroy the grail, while you go home and sift through the rubble." There was a pause as Rin waited for a response.

This entire interaction had been leading here, meant to beat down and belittle the Gikas girl, to make her feel small and weak and to push her into giving up. To let others handle the problem and mess she had caused, and just leave. It was the one part of politics I had no trouble understanding, controlling the flow of the fight to push your opponent where you wanted them.

After the pause seemed to stretch on far too long the girl stood, followed by her Servant. "If that is the only option you give me for an alliance, then we won't be having one. Saber and I will be leaving now, we'll do our best to end this war without you then." Rin gave the girl a sneer but made no move to speak to her or her Servant.

It was as they turned to leave that I took a step forwards and spoke up. "If you're sincere about not desiring the Grail anymore we can at least avoid fighting one another." Gikas' eyes narrowed as she looked at me.

"A nonaggression pact then?"

"Yes, but one based entirely on our goodwill. If we ever doubt your motives you'll become our target again, without warning." My tone was flat and neutral but hard, this wasn't a threat, or a warning, simply a notification, to ensure she was aware of the situation.

"So nothing of substance then?" The girl gave a sigh. "Fine, we'll take it anyway, I hope you'll realize we're being serious about this." With no further words from either party the two turned and left. I let out a huff of air, the day already tainted with bad feelings. I took a glance at the clock and let out a silent curse.

"Breakfast is going to be late." I moved back to the kitchen, hoping to finish something before Taiga arrived.

* * *

I tossed the two duffle bags I'd been carrying onto the motel bed, before reaching over to one and pulling open the zipper. Everything we'd managed to salvage from Argo's house was inside these two bags and the backpack that Argo carried.

Rummaging through the one I had now it was mostly items from Argo's workshop. Half burnt books, pages of notes that were torn up, and a few things Argo had told me to be careful of my prana around.

The other bag held the remains of the Gikas' weapon collection. Most were broken badly enough that we had just disposed of them, but what was left here was mostly intact and repairable, with a few that Argo could continue to use immediately.

The damage to her workshop had been extensive, with the destruction of the house itself almost seeming to be a side effect of the underground chamber's destruction. It was clear that Emiya had known, or at least suspected, where the workshop was and had gone out of his way to damage it as much as possible.

Of course that still left Argo and I without a place to stay, so for the time being we'd managed to get a motel room. We had hoped that we'd be able to ally with Tohsaka and Emiya, but their terms for it had been a nonstarter. Without me Argo had no personal protection should Tohsaka seek retribution, and my own unique nature as a Servant was something we were better off with the other magus not knowing.

The descriptions Argo gave me of what most magus would do to learn any secrets my body held was anything but pleasant.

I finished pulling the charred books and torn papers out, sorting them as best I could before looking over to Argo. "Well, what now?" The girl seemed a little dazed at the question before her attention snapped up to me from the bag of metal she'd been sifting through.

"Uh, right, what next. We have enough money for a week or two here, more than long enough for the Grail War." She paused for a second before shaking her head. "We can worry about what comes next if we live that long, for now the situation hasn't changed that much. There's still five Servants left, and except for ourselves and Archer they all want to use the Grail."

"And we need to stop them." Argo gave an exaggerated nod, grateful at my quick understanding.

"Assassin, Rider, and Lancer, Tohsaka's group likely won't go out of her way to target us for now, if we're really lucky they'll help us out when we start targeting the other Servants, if not then they should at least leave us alone." I nodded in understanding.

"Right, different objective same plan, find and eliminate Servants." I paused as I saw the way Argo's eyes kept zoning in and out of focus and gave a sigh. "First though is some rest, you look like we just pulled a forty-eight hour grinding session." The girl shot me a dirty look in response before opening her mouth

"Yeah, well running around all night not trying to get killed and having your world view turned upside down will do that. I'm surprised you're not just as tired as me." My first response was to say that I was used to it from grinding for boss fights in Aincrad, but Argo was used to it as well, she had needed to stay above the level curve to remain on the front line, all while running around to gather and sell information. Now I was just confused.

"I mean, I am tired, but it's more like I just spent all day in a dungeon then I've been grinding non-stop for a boss." I paused for a second before shrugging. "Maybe it's a Servant thing?" It seemed to be our go to for everything weird with my body, though that was for good reason.

"Probably." Argo seemed every bit as confused as me. "Servants aren't supposed to require sleep, though you should be different with a human body. It might be that you can supplement lost energy with prana, but I doubt you could go forever, and even if you can there are other issues with that." I knew that, the mind being exhausted in battle was just as dangerous as the body tiring, if not more, it was a lesson some had died for so the rest of us could learn it in Aincrad.

"Right, sleep then." I looked across the room before pausing as I remembered an issue, there was only one bed. Argo apparently wasn't that tired because her mind moved a bit faster than my own.

"Well I guess we have to share a bed then." She seemed to shift back and forth a bit before looking up at me meekly. "Please be gentle."

Nope.

I turned around and pulled on a bit of prana as well as my abilities as a Servant. A moment later I was spreading the object I pulled out of thin air across the ground, getting ready to sleep in it.

"A sleeping bag? I swear, that thing is ridiculous." I chuckled as Argo dropped the act, even as she turned towards the bed.

"It's not much more of a stretch than clothes, actually I used this thing a lot more than clothes. Safe Zones in dungeons don't tend to come with beds after all." I sighed as a I got into and made myself comfortable. "We can't sleep all day though, there's stuff we'll need to take care of later."

"Mugguuu~, yeah later. Now, sleep." Argo seemed to have already given in from the way she was mumbling as she laid down. I could only sigh and follow her example.

* * *

I rubbed my temples angrily as I stood over the phone. After breakfast when the tiger had left I'd given the overseer a call, and to my displeasure she confirmed the Gikas brat had been telling the truth. Or enough of the truth that Caren had believed them, but as much as I loathed the woman I knew her instincts with people were top notch.

Of course, my Servant had been less than pleased to be fighting the girl from the start, now to discover that we no longer had a reason to be enemies and that I had already spurned the girl's offer of alliance, Atalanta was less than pleased.

"Even if she's serious about not using the Grail an alliance with her is still too dangerous. Shirou and I are still both personally responsible for the deaths of her parents and loss of her Magic Crest."

To any proper magus the second would've been a far greater offense than the first, but then again most normal magus would try to find a use the Grail regardless of its corruption. The only reason the Association as a whole had agreed to its destruction was that while the benefits of success would go to one magus the penalty of failure would affect all magus, and as large a group of magus as they were that had been unacceptable. It was the same reason for the ban on research for other topics, most notably Dead Apostles and Reality Marbles.

"Regardless, the child showed she was willing to compromise for sake of an alliance, surely you could have signed a Geas with her." I grit my teeth in annoyance as Atalanta spoke, it would be less frustrating if she wasn't right.

"The Gikas have found loopholes and ways out of more contracts than any other family, a Geas with them isn't trustworthy."

"You are referring to a time when they had far more resources, do you expect Arete to do the same without even a workshop, and quickly enough to do something before the war ends?"

"For all we know she does have a workshop somewhere in the city still!"

"Then would it not be safer to keep her close, so if she does have a backup workshop she cannot access it without our knowledge?"

"Enough." Shirou stepped in between my Servant and I and gave me a stern look, and while I a part of me was upset with him for interrupting me I crushed that part with an effort of will as he started to speak.

"Rin, I let you choose our plans and strategies because I know you're smarter than me. I know that when my emotions and ideals get the best of me you'll stay calm and look at the big picture. But right now that's not what's happening, you let a massive potential advantage in the war walk out the door." I opened my mouth to say something but after a moment I couldn't and bit my lip, Shirou gave me a raised eyebrow and continued talking.

"Even if you can't trust Saber's Master you still could've used her, you're a magus of the Clocktower, that's what you do. The last time you made that kind of mistake was in the Fifth war, with me, rather than ending a potential threat or abandoning me once I became more trouble than I was worth you saved me and guided me through the war. You did it because your emotions got the better of you, and while that wasn't wrong then now it might be."

Shirou gave me a questioning almost pleading look as I tried to avert my gaze. Seeing my reaction he let out a sigh before voicing his question.

"Rin, why are you so angry with Arete Gikas?" I opened and closed my mouth a few times, far too aware of Shirou and Atalanta's eyes on me, before sighing as I began to speak.

"This entire war is her family's fault, her fault. If it weren't for them the Grail would've been dismantled years ago, and no one in Fuyuki would be in danger." I glanced away from Shirou for a moment in indecision before continuing to speak. "Sakura was my sister Shirou, she was born a Tohsaka before being adopted as a Matou, my sister is dead because of this war and now I'm worried I'm going to lose you too."

The shock on Shirou's face was short lived before he began to speak again. "Rin, we lived through one Grail War, and we're far more experienced now, we can do it again." I laughed at that but there was no life in the sound.

"We survived through luck, at any moment either of us could have been killed, by Lancer, Berserker, Caster, Archer, or Gilgamesh, we survived through luck, plain and simple, and I don't think we'll be able to again."

"But we don't need to do it through luck this time, we can win this through skill and planning, neither of us have to die to win this war." I scoffed, and now the idiot was lying to me, he thought I didn't know.

"How are we going to destroy the Grail? Don't lie to me, I know you have an idea." I could see the shock and doubt in his eyes, he thought I might be bluffing, but after a moment he realized I was serious, seconds passed before he started to speak.

"If Excalibur alone wasn't enough, then I'll use more. I'll deploy the Bladeworks and start using Noble Phantasm after Noble Phantasm until there aren't even pieces left, until the Grail is nothing more than ashes." I grit my teeth as the feeling of betrayal hit me, he'd been planning to do this since I first got the seals, hadn't he?

"Shirou, if you do that it'll kill you."

"I know." There was no doubt, regret, or even hesitation in his voice, and he had that stupid idiot smile on his face. I wasn't surprised, I had known for a long time that this was how he'd meet his end.

"And that's why I can't trust the Gikas girl, because of her family Sakura is dead and you're here talking about how you're going to sacrifice yourself to save others." I felt my hand squeeze into a fist as I spoke, Shirou was planning to die in this war, and despite all of my magecraft and knowledge there was nothing I could think to do about it.

"Master." I turned to look at Atalanta as she started to speak. "The war is not over yet, we can find another way to destroy the Grail. There are five Servants left, and when two remain the Grail will manifest. If we combine my Noble Phantasm with another Servant's and Shirou's Reality Marble, we may be able to destroy the Grail without sacrificing your lover." I felt a blush spread across my face at her words but didn't deny them.

Shirou's eyes looked between Archer and I for a second before he spoke. "If that's the plan then we need to find a Servant willing to cooperate. If we're desperate I can use Rule Breaker to steal a Servant, but it'd easier to cooperate with Gikas, if you can." I grit my teeth before blowing a puff of air out of my nostrils and nodding.

"Fine, we'll approach the two of them tonight, for now I need to get a geas ready." I turned and walked away ready to get to work. I'd have to run through several versions of the contract before I could be sure it was safe enough to give it to that rat.

* * *

I used the projected hammer I held to force the chain closed, some magecraft making the process easier. I set the hammer aside and tugged on both ends of the chain for a bit, nodding to myself when it didn't snap. I set it aside and was looking for which weapon I would work on next when there was a knocking on the door. I looked to check on it but Kirito jumped up first, already moving towards the door.

"I'll get it, it's probably the pizza." I nodded and went back to repairing what I could out of my weapons, I started reaching for my claws, intending to bang out the dents in the gauntlets when I felt Kirito's prana fluctuate.

"Is the Master of Saber here?" I grabbed my cloak, quickly donning it and slipping my claws into a pair of hidden pockets as I heard our visitor speak.

"Who are you?" Kirito spoke up, asking the obvious question, as I kept myself hidden and got close enough to the door to see who he was talking to.

"Is the Master of Saber here?" Dressed in a strange mesh of a white nun's habit and a maid outfit was a disturbingly pale woman. Her skin tone combined with the visible fringes of her white hair and red eyes made her look like an albino, but I knew better.

"I am." I moved into clear view as I approached the door, both hands hidden beneath my cloak and ready to pull out my claws. I doubted this thing's master would want to start anything in the open during the day, but one couldn't be too safe when dealing with the Einzbern.

"The Einzbern give you one warning, we are done allowing others to interfere with our ritual, if you do not abandon your attempts to claim our Grail then we will be forced to deal with you. You have until tomorrow morning to turn your command seals over to the overseer before you are dealt with." With no further words the homunculus turned down the hall and walked away, not even waiting for a response.

"What was that?" I looked over to Kirito, though he hadn't manifested his battle equipment I could feel his prana shifting as he readied himself to fight. "It wasn't as powerful as a Servant, but it had so much more prana than you or Emiya."

"That was a homunculus, and you're right, when designed for combat they are powerful, while any skilled magus will be able to take one on their reserves are much higher. They're a form of artificial life created by a magus, more specifically that one was created by the Einzbern."

"One of the families that made the Grail, and they're sick of fighting over it." I nodded at his words, though he didn't need to confirmation. He shot me a sideways grin before he spoke. "Well, I guess we know who we're targeting tonight." I scoffed and shook my head, he was being cocky, but not overconfident.

"Yeah, we do. And that means I've got work to do first."

* * *

I narrowed my eyes as the homunculus walked away, hand idly opening and closing by my side. "Are you sure I shouldn't kill her Rin? If we leave it alive odds are we'll just have to deal with her later." Rin shot me a dirty look in response, it was the third time I'd suggested murdering the messenger since we'd answered the door.

"Even if it's a combat model there's no way that a homunculus could do anything more than slow a Servant down. Even I wouldn't have much trouble with a few of those." Rin turned and headed back inside, and after one last glance at the slowly retreating Einzbern I followed.

"It's not much of a surprise the Einzbern are involved in this, the Grail is the work of generations of the family, and while they'll pay for crossing the Association like this Einzbern homunculi and Alchemy are too valuable to completely cut ties for this, they'll be paying in bad deals and political favors for decades, but they'll survive."

I nodded as Rin spoke, only half paying attention to the politics. I knew enough about the stuff not to be surprised by what she said, but didn't know or care to know enough to understand most of the ramifications.

"The question is what do we do about this, this isn't a message or a claim but a threat, and odds are we're not the only ones who got it." I could feel Rin's grimace from behind as I spoke.

"Yeah, between the Masters they could find and the Masters that found them the homunculi probably managed to give the message to all four of us. It's a challenge, the Einzbern are asking all of us to come to them."

"They think they can take on all of the remaining Servants at once?" I would've laughed at how absurd the idea was, except if it was really so absurd they wouldn't have issued the threat. Rin nodded slowly as we entered the dining room, Atalanta manifesting in front of us as we did.

"The question is do we take the bait? Other masters probably will, and we could either team up with them to eliminate the Einzbern or let them attack on their own to thin the competition and gather intel." I was about to speak up in response when someone else beat me to it.

"Master, what do you believe the chances are that Saber and Arete get involved?" I glanced over to Archer an eyebrow raised at what she was implying, before sighing. Rin seemed to reach the same conclusion I did.

"Fine, but we do this the smart way, Saber and Gikas can handle themselves well enough so we just need to focus on the target."

* * *

I followed behind Argo, my head on a swivel and my fingers itching to draw my swords. The entire forest was aglow with the light of the setting sun, and if it weren't for the imminent life or death combat the night would bring I would've taken a moment to appreciate the beauty of it.

"Here." Argo came to a stop in front of me, and I followed suit. "This is where the secondary bounded field starts. Saber, we will wait here until the sun is set and then we attack." I nodded, a little annoyed by the need to wait but understanding the necessity of it. We may be far from any normal people, but when things started they were going to get loud, fast. It was better to wait for night and the reduced chances of an observer.

"Hopefully some of the other masters attack the Einzbern too, we might be able to do this alone depending on the enemy Servant, but some backup could make things a lot safer." Argo nodded at my words as she drew a dagger and began scratching at the bark of a tree.

"Five Servants left in the war, you, Archer, Assassin, Rider, and Lancer. The Einzbern probably have Rider or Lancer, it's possible they have Assassin and this is just a big ambush or distraction but it's more likely they've got one of the other two."

"That leaves three Servants that could help attack tonight, knowing Tohsaka and Emiya they'll either stay out of it or intervene to pick up the scraps. Assassin, by the nature of the class, will probably get involved but only to pick off Masters or weakened Servants." Argo moved onto a second tree, she spoke as the blade met bark.

"That leaves one Servant, either Lancer or Rider. Things get complicated at that point because unlike the other classes there is no standard for a Rider. They can easily be a front lines Servant like most Sabers, Lancers, and Berserkers, or ranged like Archers and Casters."

"If the Einzbern have Rider they're probably a front line Servant." Argo nodded at my words as she moved onto her third tree, working much faster now that she'd gotten warmed up.

"Right, otherwise it'd be too risky to aggro so many other Servants, even with their homunculi. So whatever Servant the Einzbern has is likely a front liner, either Lancer or Rider, you'll have to handle them and I'll do my best to keep the Master and the Homunculi away." That brought up another point.

"What about the Master? Do we know anything about their abilities?" Argo glanced at me for a second before turning to the next tree.

"The Einzbern are alchemists at heart, and that's a practice that doesn't lend itself to direct fighting. I'd expect familiars, probably capable of making them on the fly and during live combat. I'd expect good quality out of an Einzbern even under those circumstances, but it's still going to have limited capabilities."

"Then it'll be a specialist."

"Exactly, with a weaker unit the only way to get an effective combat results is to specialize it. I don't know what they'll choose, it probably depends on the number they produce." I nodded understanding what she was getting at.

"They can't afford to be running glass cannons without enough tanks."

"Right." Argo nodded as she finished on her sixth tree, moving onto the last one. "Of course if they are using familiars they may end up deployed alongside homunculus." Argo finished scratching out the rune on the tree as she spoke, and after a there was a brief pulse of prana around us. "There, that should be enough to disrupt their bounded field. The Einzbern won't be able to spy on us any longer." I didn't respond to Argo's comment, after all it wasn't directed to me.

"Excellent." Emerging from the treeline was an older, dark skinned, man, dressed in simple clothes with the only accessory he wore his turban. "You magus may be infidels, but at the least you can be useful." I shot the older man a dirty look as he spoke, not bothering to conceal his hatred for magus, something I might've been willing to overlook if he wasn't so open about how much he wanted to kill my friend.

Despite that, he wasn't the one that had me on edge, the man was clearly skilled and dangerous, but he was still just human, and not even a powerful magus like Emiya. No, it was his Servant that had me itching to draw a blade.

She wore a pure black robe, the only visible portion of her body a small opening showing her eyes and little else. The way she wore the cloak gave only a rough idea of her body shape, slim and small, and despite her obvious status as Servant Assassin I could barely even sense her, she was a tiny blip on the radar, even manifested and standing before me as she did now.

The Master of Assassin had approached Argo and I while we getting some errands done, and while his pitch had been insulting and threatening his offer was tempting, an alliance to strike the Einzbern tonight. He wanted to use Assassin to eliminate the Master, but the bounded fields around the castle were too powerful for even Assassin to enter unnoticed.

But, should another Servant brazenly attack the castle their prana signature could mask the Servant of stealth, combined with the chaos of battle and us distracting whatever Servant the Einzbern had we would have the perfect opportunity for Assassin to get her target.

Of course, neither Argo nor I trusted this man or his Servant enough to believe there wasn't a serious risk of backstabbing, the fact that the Master still refused to share his name didn't help our mistrust. And while we could form a shaky alliance on the idea that we both wanted to destroy the Grail, Argo and I because it was corrupt and Assassin and her Master because, to them, it was heretical, there was still the fear that the two would decide we were too heretical for their tastes.

Still, that was a possibility regardless of whether we allied or the two of them decided to act on their own. It was just another risk that required the appropriate countermeasures, just like last night Argo would have to stick close, otherwise the risk that she'd get attacked by something she couldn't handle was too high.

"We'll make plenty of noise so you can get to the Master unnoticed." I spoke directly to the Servant instead of the Master, despite roles assigned by the Grail and her quiet nature she seemed to the one in charge of the duo.

"I'd appreciate if you helped with the Servant once the Master's out of the picture but I'd understand if you didn't want to get involved in a straight up fight as Assassin." Despite my words I had no doubt she could face whatever Servant the EInzbern had herself.

It wasn't something simple like a prana signature or knowledge of her legend that told me she could, it was a deep rooted instinct that the one I was standing in front of was dangerous, deadly. She was slower, weaker, and more frail than me, but despite all of that there was something primal that said it would only take one mistake to mean my death.

"We will handle the magus, anything after that is the will of the Allah." I held back a sigh and settled for a small nod, I didn't expect anything better but at least it wasn't that bad. I turned to Argo as she took a step forward and started to speak.

"Saber and I will handle the Servant, we'll try to prolong combat so that you have enough time to find the Master." Argo shot me a glance as she spoke before continuing. "If things get too hot we might have to retreat, we can't give you a warning if that happens, partly because we have no way to actually send one, and even if we did that'd only give you away."

"That's fine" The Master spoke up with a nod. "I would expect a magus to prioritize themselves, it is at least refreshing for you to be honest about it. And if Master or I needed your warning then we would have failed as assassins in the first place." That was another oddity of the duo, Assassin's Master frequently referred to her as Master, it meant that whoever the Servant was she likely shared the same ideology as the older man, and that too was worrying.

At the thought of worrying things I glanced at Argo's hand, or more specifically at the lone Command Seal on it. She had been forced to use Command Seals the last two night in a row, first to protect herself from Tohsaka and Archer and then to save me from Emiya's attack, and I really hoped she didn't keep the streak going.

Neither of us were entirely sure what would happen to me if we lost the bond, I couldn't produce prana on my own and normally when a Servant ran out they faded away, normally a Servant didn't have a living body though.

I was still capable of storing prana, so I would last a bit before whatever effects occurred began to manifest, whether I slowly lost my abilities as a Servant, my body crushed itself under the strain of trying to sustain my Servant capabilities or it began consuming my soul as the only available source of prana in my body.

There were methods for a Servant to gain prana without a contract, some were straight up unacceptable like killing humans to drink the prana in their souls, others were too ineffective like consuming prana stored in an object, while some, well, I had managed to get a description of a tantric ritual out of Argo and quickly regretted it.

The fact that it embarrassed her as much as me made the whole situation worse.

Argo met my eyes in a brief glance, likely guessing my thoughts from the way she covered her lone seal with the other hand. She gave a sigh before speaking again. "Alright, the sun will be gone soon, so we should get rested and ready before things kick off."

* * *

"You said we're doing this the smart way, but this feels suspiciously close to how I do things." I spoke softly, and as soon as I finished felt Rin's grip on my back twitch as she walked behind me. I was sure that she would've shoved me away if not for the dagger I held.

Carnwennan was a relatively low ranked Noble Phantasm, and the weakest of the many Noble Phantasms Arturia could be summoned with. Its effects were simple, cloaking the wielder and up to one person in contact with them in shadow. It wasn't invisibility but it was more than enough to conceal Rin and I from the Einzbern's scrying bounded field.

"The difference between this and your normal behavior is that we have a well thought out plan with multiple contingencies, instead of charging in like a complete idiot." I gave a quiet laugh as Rin spoke, I had long grown used to her antics, just as she had mine.

"It's unfortunate I couldn't bring Archer instead, but Carnwennan isn't powerful enough to hide a Servant so completely, not unless it's the Servant who's supposed to use it." I stepped over a root as I spoke, walking steadily and carefully. There was no need to rush and despite Carnwennan's protection if we made too much of a commotion there was a risk of us being noticed.

"It's fine, we have a way around that. And besides, there's a few things I might be able to do to help on the front lines." I grimaced at her words, and despite her position behind me Rin must've noticed. "Don't treat me like that, I'm the head of the Tohsaka family and a master of our magecraft, I may not be able to match up to Servants but I can certainly handle myself."

"I know, and if you do end up face to face with a Servant you can hold on long enough with your jewels, but that doesn't stop me from worrying." I could feel the breath from Rin's sigh on my back.

"I know, if you could you'd fight every Servant in the war alone, just to make sure no one else was in danger. But that's not how the world works, you have to accept that others will put themselves in danger and do what you can to mitigate the risks from that." There was a bitter feeling in my gut as she spoke but I found myself grinning regardless.

"So you've told me before, maybe I'll even listen this time." It was Rin's turn to give a small laugh.

"Maybe if I beat you over the head with it enough." I got ready to speak again but paused when my nose twitched.

"This is it, the second layer starts here." We stopped walking as I spoke. The Einzbern bounded field was perhaps the strongest in all of Fuyuki and definitely the largest. It was designed to with two distinct layers each having a goal. The first was meant to keep out the mundane and observe intruders, while there were defenses in place on it they were insignificant to a Servant or a skilled magus.

The second layer though was a powerful defensive field, meant not to directly attack intruders but to hinder and weaken them so that the castle's defenders could take care of them themselves, it was designed with the Grail War in mind, no modern bounded field would be able to stop a Servant with Magic Resistance or a determined Caster, so instead the Einzbern acted to make any battle in their lands overwhelming in their favor.

Rin and I had been fortunate enough to avoid dealing with all of that in the previous war, Gilgamesh had done it instead, blowing through the defensives and destroying Herakles in a one sided battle. Even after that the bounded field had been intact at the end of our war, and remained unchanged every time we had returned to Fuyuki since then.

But this time something was different.

"The bounded field has been altered." Rin perked up at my words, she shifted her grip from the back of my shirt to my left arm as she move forwards to examine the field. While my detection abilities were better than hers RIn was still the far better magus, she'd be able to tell what had changed where I could not.

Rin shut her eyes as she focused on her mystical senses and whatever magecraft she was using to analyze the bounded field. After a few moments of silence her eyes shot open. "It's not the bounded field that changed, though it's been affected by the change, it's the leylines themselves."

"The leylines?" My mind raced at the implications that even I could understand. "The only kind of things that could cause a change like that are greater rituals like the Grail," I paused as I considered a possibility that was far too likely, "or something like a Noble Phantasm." Rin nodded slowly, before she spoke up.

"Yeah, and it's obvious what's more likely here, the entire area is probably affected by the Einzbern Servant's Noble Phantasm." Rin let out a sigh as she moved behind me, grabbing the back of my shirt again. "The good news is the bounded field has been heavily damaged by whatever the Servant did, most of its original functions are completely lost." Well that was one less thing to worry about, one less and a dozen more, whatever the Servant did it had to be much more powerful than the bounded field was, otherwise the Einzbern wouldn't have bothered to use it.

I glanced to the horizon, noticing the last rays of the sun fade. "Alright, let's go. Things are gonna start soon, and we don't want to be late."


	10. Chapter 9

**AN: I'M FINALLY BACK TO WRITING! It's been months since I wrote more than a few hundred words, and god and I glad to be doing it again. I know some of you will be disappointed that I'm working on this rather AtB, but this is easier for me to get into, and so close to being done that I just need to finish it.**

 **All that's left for this story, by the way, are two chapters, and a short epilogue. I'm planning to finish by the end of February, but don't be surprised if I'm not done until early March. Once that's done I'll be focusing my full attention on AtB and M &M, I might even pick up a third story once I've done some work on those two. **

**As for this chapter, it's the last fight before the final battle, with the next day being the last before the end of the war. I've got some very powerful Servants presents and I hope I did them justice, though you have to remember Lancer is much weaker without his fame bonus.**

 **Anyway, I won't say too much about the chapter. Final words before going, I am sorry about how long it's been since I posted, I have a lot of trouble keeping up my good habits, though I've gotten better and hope to continue to improve. Let's try for a full year of updates this time.**

 **As ever, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

I did my best to suppress a shiver that ran down my back as I lightly stepped over a root, following closely in Kirito's shadow as I did, and grit my teeth lightly when I failed to stop the unconscious action. I didn't believe in premonitions, but this was more than one, it was a feeling in my gut, and I'd learned to listen to my gut.

And right now my gut said we were walking into a trap.

To be fair it's not like I didn't know that already, Kirito and I had discussed it at length during the day. The only reason the Einzbern would've brazenly challenged us all like that was if they were sure they could win. And if they believed they could dominate us in a direct battle then they wouldn't have bothered luring us out here, it meant their Servant had a significant advantage on the defensive, we just had to hope our own preparations would be enough to overcome that advantage.

I skirted around a tree, keeping my head low to avoid rustling any low hanging branches, and I thought to our temporary ally. Assassin and her Master had gone ahead of us and once the fighting kicked off they'd infiltrated the castle to try and hunt down and kill the Einzbern Master. If the Master showed themselves to me and Kirito I'd have to send out a signal for the other pair so they'd know the castle was a dead end.

I followed Kirito across a small creek, taking care to avoid jostling the metal weaponry I had on me and grimaced at just how little I was carrying. This was the first night I'd be going out with the intention of taking part in a fight personally, ideally I'd be fully kitted out, throwing knives, picks, a few pair of daggers, my claws, at least on longer blade, a short bow along with arrows, and the few mystic codes my family had made for combat.

But Emiya had done a number on my supply with his bombing the night before, the armory that my family had built up to prepare for one of us becoming a Pseudo-Servant had been almost entirely lost, and my mystic codes damaged enough that I wouldn't risk using them in case they failed spectacularly at the worst moment. So I'd had to scavenge together whatever weapons I could.

I'd managed to fill a belt with a handful of throwing knives, a few picks, and some daggers that weren't meant for throwing but could suffice. Fortunately I'd had my claws on hand when my house was destroyed so they were spared, but beyond that my options were limited. A collapsible staff in one pocket and a chain and dagger hanging from the small of my back.

The hiss of steel as Kirito drew his blades was the first hint of battle. Between one step and the next he was bearing steel, turning as he slid to a stop, a swing of Elucidator parried a massive halberd, and a swipe of his second sword, the pure black one from the night before, took the head of the homunculus that had tried to ambush us.

Night Sky Sword, he'd said it was called. He hadn't told me much of the story behind it, not a surprise since he probably couldn't remember it, but he'd told me a good deal of its effects. A sword that could draw mana from the atmosphere to enhance itself, and potentially to grow longer and more powerful at Kirito's command. It was crafted from the peak of enormous tree, and because of this it could gain more prana from specific sources that it had aptitude for, light, and the sun especially, being the most efficient, but beyond that the more nature in the area the better the sword would perform.

Here, surrounded by ancient forests and towering trees, it was as close to its peak as we could hope for in a war fought in the darkness of night.

Three more homunculus came out of the darkness and brush to charge us, the two on the flanks carrying axes larger than themselves, with the lead holding a thick kite shield and a large lance. I drew a throwing knife with each hand, one of the axe wielders was hit in the throat, stumbling as they drowned in their own blood, the other leaned to the side to avoid it, slowing as their heavy weapon resisted the change in momentum.

At the same time Kirito took a half step back, raising his right arm in preparation for a thrust, the shield bearer raising their guard in response. The attack came earlier than they expect however, Night Sky Sword doubling in length and impaling the enemy through their shield. With a twist of his wrist and a turn of his body Kirito dragged his sword out of the impaled foe and through the survivor, bisecting the third member of the group.

It was a gruesome scene, though one I'd been prepared for, raised as a magus and trained to fight in the Grail War I knew death and I'd been prepared for bloody scenes like this. Kirito though was raised as an ordinary boy and though he'd seen plenty of death in Aincrad it was never this gruesome.

I spared a glance in worry at him, but he seemed unaffected by the scene, simply flicking the blood off of his weapon before carrying it at the ready. I had to resort to using my hood to conceal the look of worry on my face, I wasn't sure if this was the result of the integration of his Heroic Spirit, or if the war so far had desensitized him but I was responsible either way.

'I'm fine, we have to focus on the fight right now.' I felt myself flinch at the thought that entered my head, sent through the Servant Master bond. I'd been so concerned with controlling my physical reactions I hadn't kept my thoughts in order, and it seemed some of them leaked over to KIrito.

'You're right.' I let a slow breath out of my nose as I sent the thought. 'We can worry about that later, for now we need to survive.' With one last pause we moved onwards, ready for the next group of enemies.

But not before I retrieved my knives, I was low enough as is.

* * *

I followed closely behind Shirou, one hand on his shoulder, so that the effects of Carnwennan would expand to cover me, and the other hovering near the pocket I'd left a few gems in, just in case.

I wasn't supposed to get into combat tonight, we had a plan for that, but that didn't mean I wouldn't. Besides, a few of the gems I carried could be useful anyway.

'Archer,' I spoke with my mind, casting my thoughts through the bond with my Servant. 'Seeing anything from up there?' We'd left Archer behind while Shirou and I had gone to infiltrate, and the huntress had taken up position on the school roof. It was the nearest she could get to the Einzbern Castle while maintaining a good vantage point.

There'd been the option of setting up within the forest itself, outside of the Einzbern's bounded field, Atalanta could've found a suitable tree and there was no way she'd be at a disadvantage, but it worked better if she was a bit further from the action. The chances of another Servant stumbling on her in the woods were too high, especially when it was almost certain everyone would be here tonight

'I've seen motion a few times, I believe a Servant has started fighting, but the bounded field cuts off most of my other senses.' There was the smallest hint of frustration in my Servant's voice, I wasn't sure if she was worried about me and Shirou, the childlike pair of Gikas and Saber, or both.

Though, I did know one concern she shared with me, one which her statement had brought up. 'The Bounded Field worries me, or rather the damage done to it.' Originally it was a powerful defensive barrier, capable of empowering allies, weakening foes, perfect scrying within its area, directly attacking those within, and obstructing surveillance from outside, on top of dissuading the uninitiated from entering.

Now though, only the last two remained intact, whatever change had occurred in the Ley Lines had distrubed the foundation of the bounded field too much. Some repairs had been managed since then however, only the most basic features had been recovered. To sacrifice all of that for whatever Noble Phantasm the Einzbern's Servant had, there was good reason behind our caution.

'Your worries are well founded, but don't let them blind you Master. You have a good plan and reliable allies, depend on them.' I had to hold back a snort at that, a plan and allies sounded good but we were dealing in unknowns here, and charging headfirst into the enemy's attack, we'd need luck more than anything and I knew better than to rely on that.

"Get ready." Shirou paused for a second, to speak up at barely above a whisper. "We're almost there." I paused at the suddenness of the announcement before taking a single calming breath and nodding. Shirou couldn't see me but he somehow knew I was ready regardless, we began moving again, and though I was fairly certain it was even slower than before I felt like we were going much, much faster.

* * *

I took a step forward, using Night Sky Sword to draw a halberd out of position, using the polearm and its wielder to block two homunculus from approaching on my left, while Elucidator stabbed forwards, burying itself in between my targets ribs, forcing their suddenly limp body back as the warhammer they were preparing to swing fell back.

A dagger flew past me, burying its tip in the neck of the halberd user I'd forced open, before the chain attached to it drew taught and it was pulled back, drawing a spray of blood. The pair that was previously blocked off by their comrade pushed the warm corpse aside. The one in the lead carried a zweihander, and seemed intent on using the massive two handed sword to cave my head in.

A scissor strike with both of my swords cut their sword short, and the sudden loss of weight left my opponent staggering and vulnerable. I ignored my open opponent in favor of rushing the second homunculus, the whistling of Argo's dagger as it flew through the air, guided by her hands and the chain linked to it, assured me this one wouldn't be a problem much longer.

The final opponent from this wave held a hefty mace and a small round shield. While the defensive armament was well made, against the strength of a Servant and the power of a Noble Phantasm it'd do little more than slow down my attacks. This foe seemed to have learned at least that much from those that came before it, choosing to forgo any attempt at using it defensively and throw the shield at me like a frisbee, before rushing me with their mace.

I didn't even bother blocking the projectile, side stepping it before turning that momentum into a spin, putting two parallel cuts through the homunculus' side, shredding its lungs even as I completely avoided the blunt weapon. I paused and let out a breath to calm myself down.

I turned to look at Argo, my swords still bare to see her panting as her chest heaved. This was the sixth group of homunculus we'd faced, and while it hadn't taken me much it was starting to take its toll on Argo. She was only human after all, and we'd been fighting night after night on little sleep, this was the third night in a row she'd personally gotten involved in the fighting, and the fifth night of the war where she'd had to go with little sleep. The toll was starting to add up and with the worst timing.

"We can't keep this up, you need to rest." Argo shot me a dirty look, though the fact she had to catch her breath before responding proved my point.

"We can't stop right now. We still haven't flushed out the Servant, and we have no idea how many of these homunculus there are." She paused, her breathing more controlled as Argo rested, before continuing in the privacy of my mind, where there was no concern of being spied on. 'We need the Servant's attention so that Assassin can target the Master, until then we can't afford to slow down.' I wrinkled my nose, not pleased with her point but unable to refute it.

We really did need to force the enemy to act, and these half hearted assaults, attempts to either scout our abilities or tire us out, weren't enough. We needed the Servant out.

Actually, I might have something that could work for that.

It wouldn't have worked at the start of the night, but after half a dozen of these small skirmishes on our enemy's doorstep there was no doubt the enemy was 'hiding' from us. And that meant I could use my Noble Phantasm.

"I've got something, it'll take a minute though, so use that time to catch your breath." Argo gave me a raised eye but said nothing as I sheathed Night Sky Sword and turned to face towards the manor, the tips of its roof barely visible through the treetops from how close we'd gotten.

"After this the Servant is almost certain to come at us, so be ready." I gave Argo one last warning before pulling on the prana reserves I'd gotten from her, pushing them into the weapon I held. Elucidator was the sword I'd held the longest, obtained as a drop from a boss on the fiftieth floor of Aincrad I'd used it until the game ended on the seventy fifth. It was one of only two Noble Phantasms I owned that I knew the full legend behind, it and Dark Repulser.

I'd lost the sword Lisbeth had forged for me last night, triggering its effect and destroying the sword as a cost, it was then that I'd realized the effect of Elucidator, after all the two swords were both linked to the same battle, my duel with Heathcliff and the final battle of Sword Art Online.

Dark Repulser was the end of the fight, the destruction of the blade, the sacrifice of both the sword and Asuna that allowed me the final strike to claim victory. It only made sense that Elucidator was the beginning of that same battle.

Elucidate was an english word, that means to make something clear, to make it known. And it was this same sword that I'd attacked Heathcliff with, following my revelation that he was Kayaba, and making this known to everyone present.

Contrary to its nature as a sword it is this act that defines Elucidator as a Noble Phantasm, allowing it to reveal the identity of my foe so long as they are hiding from me. This requires more than a Servant not announcing themselves or facing me head on, it had to run deeper than that.

Concealing themselves in some obscure corner while throwing waves of disposable minions at me certainly counted.

I felt something click into place and knew that it would work. With an ordinary Servant and a normal Noble Phantasm it would be much easier to trigger it, but my connection to the Throne and my own legend was weaker due to my status as a Demi-Servant, and Elucidator's conditional activation meant it needed to be coaxed into activating.

But it was ready now.

"Elucidator!" I swung the sword as I announced its name, dragging it through the air in front of me. As I did a change came on the air around us, as if some unseen fog had been lifted and the whole world was exposed for all to see.

The true effect of Elucidator would only be felt by myself and its target though. My target would know of Elucidator's activation, and the effect it was having. As a Servant this meant the exposure of my identity, even if no one living knew the Black Swordsman of Aincrad a Servant would know me through their connection to the Throne of Heroes.

I would get more, I knew the enemy Servant was Lancer, I knew their True Name, their Noble Phantasms, and effects of said weapons of legend. I knew where Lancer was, and until he chose to face me I would continue to even as he moved.

And right now, I knew that after a short pause upon noticing the activation, he was approaching, and that we were in danger.

"Shit!" I couldn't keep myself from cursing as I spun around to face Argo. "Argo! We need to get out of here!" The shock on her face was understandable, but it was also something we didn't have time for, and I didn't have time for her to walk either.

"What? What's going on?!" I didn't even pause to explain, cradling her in my left arm, as my right held Night Sky Sword. I turned to escape when I saw three homunculus barring my way, I grit my teeth as I faced them, I didn't have time to go through them, but if I tried to go around Lancer would cut me off.

"Hold on tight." It was the only warning I gave Argo before rushing, forwards. A Vorpal Strike brought me close, biting into the tower shield the front enemy carried. I was able to skewer the carrier, but the shield was over two inches thick, and it had diverted my thrust enough that I'd only pierced their shoulder. It wouldn't be lethal but I didn't have time to worry about that now.

I was down to one arm from carrying Argo so I couldn't use a second blade. Instead I pivoted and brought up my foot, planting it on the shield and giving a kick, launching the homunculus carrying it into a tree.

I turned to the other two, both wielding long lances with wicked barbed points. A swing of my blade from the side was blocked by one, the angle of the lance causing my blade to slide up and get caught on the tip. With gritted teeth and a yell I pushed more strength through my blade, cutting the tip off and planting Night Sky in the side of the wielder's skull.

Then I had to duck, barely moving my head out of the way of a thrust, a few stray hairs getting caught by the barbs. My sword was wrenched free of the dead foe's head with a spray of bloody gore, before slamming into the shaft of my enemy's lance. There was a moment during the impact where the homunculus buckled, and I used that chance to slip inside of their guard and knee them in the gut.

I was sure I'd broken at least one rib, and possibly ruptured a lung, but I brought Night Sky around and struck their chin with the pommel, destroying their jaw and if not killing them knocking them unconscious long enough that we could get away.

Unfortunately, that was when the third one, the one carrying the tower shield returned. They walked with a bit of a limp, from whatever damage the crash had caused them, but they moved quickly despite that. The homunculus threw themselves at me, less of a true attack and simply a full body check, meant not to harm or beat me, but simply slow me down through the weight of their own body.

I felt myself snarl as I realized what they were doing. They were never meant to beat me or kill my Master, just keep me from escaping from the much larger threat as Lancer drew nearer. I let loose a roar as I lunged forwards, a Vorpal Strike landing near the top of the shield and checking the carrier's forward momentum as they stumbled back, the force making the shield angle up, towards the sky.

I rushed forwards, planting one foot, then the next, on the shield before using it as a platform to leap past my opponent. With Argo on my shoulder I wasn't able to roll to preserve the momentum my stunt had earned me, but I used every bit of my enhanced abilities to run, trying to put as much distance between myself and a confrontation that was almost certain death.

It wasn't enough.

Every instinct I'd developed in Aincrad and a few I knew I'd earned elsewhere flared, and I immediately halted my momentum by planting Night Sky Sword in the earth, I could feel it drain prana from the dirt, and though that would be useful later I had bigger concerns now. I barely avoided becoming a shish kebab as dozens of wooden stakes emerged from the ground in front of me, blocking my path.

My ears perked as I heard the drumming of horse hooves and I spun around in a panic, my sword coming free in the process. I didn't bother fleeing now, he was here already and facing him directly wouldn't make my attempts to escape his territory any harder. He burst through the foliage like the reaper himself, his dark steed's shaggy appearance, with skeletal armor and flowing black and red cloth reinforcing the image.

In contrast to his steed's mangy and cruel appearance Lancer was perfectly groomed, his long white blonde hair flowing at the ends and his beard perfectly trimmed. His dark suit was immaculate and the only hint he was entering a battlefield rather than a ballroom was the wicked lance he carried.

He paused as he regarded us, his calm demeanor likely at odds with my own panicked and frenzied attitude. But I could hardly be blamed for it, this was Vlad the Impaler, the man who slaughtered hordes of Turkish invaders in the defense of his country, and right now, we were invaders in his land.

"So you would be Saber then, Black Swordsman of Aincrad?" He sat straight and rigid in the saddle as he spoke, yet somehow gave off an air of being perfectly casual in the current situation. "I find myself surprised to face a Heroic Spirit as young as yourself, your legend even now being written." I felt Argo gasp in my arms as she realized that he knew my identity, and I couldn't help a mithful thought from crossing our bond.

'It gets worse.' I took a calming breath, standing a bit straighter despite carrying Argo before I spoke. "And you're Lancer, Vlad the Impaler, he who slaughters invaders." Argo somehow tensed even further in my grip, suddenly understanding my fear.

'Kii-bou, just how fucked are we?'

'On a scale from Illfang to Gleam Eyes? Kayaba.'

I paused, an idle thought crossing my mind. "You wouldn't be willing to let us retreat would you? I wasn't aware it was your territory we were invading." The enemy Servant chuckled at my question before shaking his head.

"I'm afraid the only way either of you leave alive is if your Master turns over her Command Seals, you were warned that the Einzbern were ending this Grail War." I grimaced a bit, but refused to stop speaking just yet. There was still a chance that I could gain an advantage from dialogue, or at least earn time for Assassin to use, or even delay for if one of the other Servants, the unknown Rider or Tohsaka's group, chose to attack the Einzbern as well.

"And who would she hand it over to? Would your Master be willing to show themselves?" Lancer leaned back in the saddle, an amused expression on his face.

"No, my Master will not be revealing himself until you are dead or your Master lacks her seals. Though it is admirable to lead from the front, I cannot help but agree with his caution is hiding himself." He gestured widely with his lance tip. "If you wish to surrender your Master can give her seals to one of the homunculus, they will be sufficient as a temporary Master for you." I grimaced as I looked at the growing mob of enemies, even as we spoke more and more of them were arriving, it was enough to have me honestly startled.

He paused for a second before a fierce grin split his face. "Though I would be most disappointed if you chose such a way out, I find myself eager to test the newest generation of Heroic Spirits." I drew in another breath, preparing myself for battle, when I saw one last avenue to try for an advantage, or at least to level the field a bit.

"Then how about a real test?" Vlad raised a brow, before gesturing with his off hand for me to continue. "As it is now if we fight I'll be at a massive disadvantage, between your stakes, these homunculi, and having to protect my Master you might be able to win without lifting a finger, wouldn't it be a far greater test if we agree to have the extras stand aside for a bit?"

Vlad let out a deep laugh, not mocking, but rather truly entertained by my words. "Your offer reeks of cunning and desperation, but I cannot say I find it wholey unappealing." He paused for a moment, the butt of his lance tapping against his steeds flank before nodding. "I cannot promise that these soldiers won't act, but I swear that they won't interfere with our battle, and that I will take no action against your Master as long as our duel continues."

I grimaced a bit, he was essentially agreeing to divide our fight into two parts, Servant against Servant, and Master against Homunculus. I had faith that Argo could take on five, ten, and if she used the terrain to avoid a direct conflict, perhaps as many as twenty of these enemies. But there were over thirty here already and I had no idea how many more might be coming. The Einzbern had truly decided to invest everything in this war.

'Do it.' Argo's words in my mind cut through my indecisive thoughts. 'If we fight him as is we will lose, but if we can divide the fight between us, well. I think I can hold on long enough for Assassin and her Master to do their part.' I grit my teeth for a second, trying to think of a better way, a more optimal path to victory, but I realized there wasn't one. So I nodded.

"Wonderful, then release your Master and prepare yourself. You are about to face the might of Vlad, bloody tyrant of Romania." I let down Argo, sharing a nod as she dashed off into the night, enemies already on her tail, before I took a step towards Lancer. My biggest issue in this fight would be those stakes of his, Kazikli Bey was one of his two Noble Phantasms, which allowed him to manifest those stakes anywhere within his territory. Blocking and even destroying those stakes will be of the utmost importance, especially since I couldn't give him the chance to utilize the Noble Phantasm's true effect.

If I was stabbed even once, it could be the end of the fight. Instinct, Eye of the Mind, and Protection from Arrows would be invaluable, but there was one more advantage I could give myself. I had already used Elucidator's effect, whether I continued to wield it or a different sword wouldn't change that, and beyond its quality as a blade it held no other advantages in this fight.

None of my other blades from Aincrad would be as powerful as Elucidator, nor did any of them hold any mystical effects I could take advantage of, the Black Iron Greatsword was large enough that I could use it as a shield but that same size could be cumbersome, and it was of lesser quality than the sword I was already wielding. There was one good option though.

With a flash of light Elucidator and its accompanying sheath vanished, replaced with a much flashier sword on my back that I soon drew. A Noble Phantasm in name alone, it was a weapon that possessed no true legend and simply drew its power from sharing a name with a true sword of legend. It was almost solid gold, with only a small patch of deep blue on the cross guard, containing three small gems of equal size. In life the gems were green, but now the sword had come closer to its original, the green fading and being replaced by the blue it currently held.

The Holy Sword Excalibur, despite its name it held no holy attribute, it was a C rank Noble Phantasm that held only one passive effect, the destruction of weapons it clashes with. Lesser weapons, mundane blades and the like, could be shattered with a single swing, and even quality mystic codes could be destroyed in short order.

It was possible to destroy a lower ranked Noble Phantasm with this blade, but it would take precise blows and prolonged combat. What I wanted it for was to obliterate Lancer's stakes as quickly and thoroughly as possible. I could only hope it'd be enough.

"Oho? An interesting choice of weapon." Lancer's visage split into a fierce, predatory smile as he twirled his lance, his steed rearing back in preparation for battle. "Let us see if it was the right one!" I dashed forwards as he spoke, already twisting to avoid the stakes that had only begun to shift dirt as materialized in the earth. This would not be easy.

* * *

"Hold up." I spoke up, stopping in my tracks as I did, with Rin halting almost immediately after. My ears perked as I strained my reinforced hearing to the limits. I'd been able to hear the clash of blades for a bit now, however it had grown louder, and more than that it had started coming from two different directions.

I strained my other senses trying to figure out what was happening, I doubted I'd be able to spot anything, but my nose twitched as I started sensing prana more carefully. After a moment I spoke up, alerting Rin to my findings.

"The battle has split into two parts." I pointed off towards my left with the hand not holding Carnwennan. "Over there someone is fighting a large number of Homunculi." I paused as my hand drifted to the right, before it stopped, pointing somewhere ahead and a little to the right. "Over there Saber is facing an enemy Servant." Even without looking at her I knew what Rin's response would be, pursed lips as she glanced between the two directions, considering the best avenue of approach.

I had my own ideas, but I'd remain silent until Rin made a decision, it wouldn't take long and odds were she'd have a better plan than I.

"It's probably Saber's Master fighting the homunculi. I hate to say it but you should go to support Saber, and I'll make contact with Gikas." I nodded, a slow and purposeful movement, before glancing at the hand grasping my shoulder.

"Make sure you're ready, once you let go of my shoulder you'll lose the concealment of Carnwennan." Rin gave a sharp nod, her other hand dipping into her pocket before pulling out a few gems. She thumbed between them, studying them for a moment before taking one between two fingers and stowing the rest back in her pockets.

She looked up to me and gave a final nod, a gesture I returned promptly. The gem she still held, a dark onyx, glowed brightly before settling into a more dim glow that quickly spread to Rin's own body. It was a form of concealment, one weaker than the Noble Phantasm I held but better than nothing. After quickly checking herself over she let go of me and began jogging into the night, ducking and twisting around trees and brush as she moved.

I took a moment to adjust my grip on the dagger, before releasing a sharp breath. It was time for battle once again. With a burst of movement I dashed forwards, my empty hand out and ready to Trace as I reinforced my body.

* * *

I bit off a curse as I ducked, the blade of a halberd cutting through my cloak and leaving a shallow cut on my shoulder. My left hand lashed out, a throwing pick planting itself in the enemy's neck as I used my staff to block a greatsword, my legs buckling as the blade slid across my guard.

It hadn't been long since I'd separated from Kirito, a few minutes at most, but I was already tiring significantly. It'd been days now since I'd gotten a full night's sleep, and combined with the stress and action of the War it was taking its toll.

Two more homunculi took the place of the one I'd killed, and the lead brought their axe down in a massive overhand strike. I grunted as I set my defense, holding my staff above my head and praying it'd hold.

It didn't.

After a moment's resistance the hollow weapon snapped in half, and in a panicked move I threw aside the right half, using the time the guard had bought me to throw my body to the side. I came out of my controlled tumble in a roll and threw the other half of my weapon at the second attacker, though a flourish of their lance knocked the improvised projectile aside.

My actions gained me space from these two but three more had approached while I was dealing with them, and I now found myself facing down five all within the immediate vicinity, with many more still filtering in from between the trees that would be a concern if I managed to survive the next thirty seconds. I quickly pulled out my chain and dagger, hopefully I'd be able to use it to force my pale foes to keep distance, and at worst I could resort to climbing trees to avoid them. That should buy me a bit more time.

I was ready to burst into action yet again when a torrent of green wind burst through the foliage, catching all five of my enemies by surprise. Despite their power the gales weren't inherently fatal, however add in several heavy, bladed, metal weapons, that the homunculi quickly lost control of, flying around randomly. Well, you got a good impression of a blender for a few seconds.

I looked to see just who the attacker had been, fully prepared to have to start a sudden three way fight between myself, the Einzbern and this interloper, only to recognize my savior, and I wasn't sure whether to be aggravated or relieved.

On one hand, in the last twenty four hours, she'd been at least partly responsible for an attempt on my and Kirito's lives, the complete decimation of my home and workshop, and had thrown me out when I sought reconciliation and an alliance upon realizing the nature of the Grail.

On the other she may have just saved my life.

"It had to be you." The aggravation won out.

"Trust me, I'd rather not deal with you either." Tohsaka casually flipped her hair as she walked closer, seemingly disregarding the Einzbern who had stalled their assault for the moment. "Still, I told Shirou and Archer that I'd give you a chance, so if you're going to double cross me I'd prefer you do it quickly." I felt an eyebrow twitch and I had to cut off a retort. As much as this pissed me off now really wasn't the time for it.

"We need to get out of here, Saber is fighting Lancer, and we're not safe until we get out of this forest." Tohsaka had gotten close by this point and turned to look towards the homunculi before speaking.

"Oh? That scared of a few grunts? Or do you think your Servant will lose?" One of the homunculus took a half step forwards and my fellow Master's hand shot up, held in a facsimile of handgun. A black curse shot out and impacted the ground in front of the enemy that had moved, causing them to pause. The tense standoff wouldn't hold much longer.

"The problem is Lancer." I spoke up, fingering the chain I held as tried really hard not to rise to Tohsaka's banter. "He's Vlad the Impaler." That seemed to give her pause.

"I see." She spoke softly, that seemed to give her pause. "And we're in his territory aren't we? Is that what happened to the Bounded Field?" What was that supposed to mean? I almost voiced the question, but shook it off. There'd be time for questions later, if there was a later. "Whatever, that's your problem. I'm done here."

"What?!" Even our enemies seemed confused by that, and even as I turned to the twin-tailed magus she just gave me a superior smirk before holding out her right hand.

"By the power of this Command Seal, I order you, switch locations with me." I barely had time to widen my eyes as I realized her plan before she disappeared in a flash of red. The same moment Archer appeared, bow at the ready, and an arrow already held to the string. Her eyes snapped to the nearest homunculus with an intensity I'd rarely if ever seen, even amongst the most veteran front liners, and, more shockingly, the Servants of this war.

"Servant Archer." She announced herself, and despite lacking any mystical weight there was a power to her words. "If you wish to harm this child you must go through me."

* * *

I shivered for a brief second as the wind hit me. The school roof was much more exposed than the Einzbern forest and I grabbed my arms in an instinctive response. I let out a steady breath before bending over, grabbing the coat off the top of a duffle bag that Atalanta had brought here for me.

I threw the garment on quickly, before unzipping the bag and taking out a few supplies. Chalk quickly went to use as I started on my Formalcraft, it was only a precaution to set up an area for healing here at this point, hopefully one that would go unneeded. Once Archer had Gikas out of the area she could join Shirou and Saber, and the three of them should be enough for Lancer.

That was the plan, and we'd agreed it was a solid one. But the revelation of Lancer's identity had made it's foundation much shakier. Outside of his territory I had faith it would be a one sided match, but to face the Impaling Prince in his own lands, even among the Servants from the previous war there weren't many who could win.

* * *

I dipped to the side, avoiding a stake that hadn't appeared yet, as I rushed forwards, my left hand lashed out with Excalibur, shattering a couple of stakes that appeared in front of me, before I pushed off the ground.

My boots impacted a tree with enough force to crack the bark and I used it as a platform to get higher, avoiding several stakes that planted themselves in the tree, felling it as the combined force proved too much.

I entered the interwoven canopy above, moving quickly. I weighed too much with my blades and armor to be stealthy so I opted for raw speed instead, barely touching the few thicker branches that could hold me before kicking off. After a few jumps I landed on a particularly thick limb with both feet, allowing my momentum to carry me forwards, pushing off just as I started to fall.

Lancer saw me coming, turning in his saddle with an amused grin. Excalibur lashed out, but was blocked by Vlad's lance, there was a crack of wood as the stake he held caved in, he'd be able to summon another given time, but I didn't intend to give him the chance. Night Sky Sword followed my first blade, taking the opening Excalibur had created. Lancer's steed lept back, taking him out of range of the blade and I growled for a second before yelling, pumping prana into the blade it quickly doubled in size, opening a thin gash along Lancer's side.

In the next moment my momentum carried me past his position and back to the earth. I hit the ground and rolled, keeping myself small enough to avoid the stakes that tried to skewer me from the sides before springing to my feet, skidding in a half circle as my momentum carried me further and I turned to face Lancer.

He was casually inspecting the wound on his side, I didn't bother attacking while he did, all it would take was a thought for more stakes to leap at me, and despite appearances I wasn't naive enough to believe he had let his guard down.

The wound in question was just below his ribs, not particularly deep but it was bleeding enough to stain the torn edges of his suit. I would've felt better about taking first blood but I knew the first wound I took might be the last one I could endure. It wasn't like my endurance stat was low, but Kazikli Bey could be fatal with a single scratch.

"You've certainly proven yourself as a Servant at this point, even holding back as I am there are few Servants that could survive in my territory." I would've cursed at the revelation that he was going easy on me, except I already knew he wasn't going all out. Part of it would be concealing some of his tricks, but at the same time he was still testing me.

I took a deep calming breath, using the lull to rest myself. As much as I was using my instincts in this fight I couldn't simply let loose and trust them, I needed to think. I couldn't win by outlasting Vlad or besting his Noble Phantasm. If he went all out I'd be hard pressed to survive, getting close enough to strike a killing blow would be a pipe dream. I needed to catch him by surprise, hit him harder than he could counter while he was still holding back.

Unfortunately my first attempt at that had failed, and that meant it'd be even harder now.

My body tensed as Lancer summoned a new stake to his hands, replacing the one he'd lost, but when he made no further move I relaxed minutely. He seemed to be considering me for a moment, and it came as a surprise when he spoke up. "Your master, she is rather young for a participant in this war." I couldn't suppress the confused look at the sudden non-sequitur.

"And?" The one word question was the only response I could possibly give.

"I was wondering, she's certainly the right age for it, and I know they were freed recently, was she there?" It took me a moment to realize what he was, but when I did my guard tensed.

"Why should I answer that?" My reply seemed to amuse him further and it was with a small chuckle that he spoke.

"Just entertain this old man." I almost snorted when he called himself old, but let it go.

"She was, like me, my Master is a survivor of Aincrad." Vlad seemed pleased to know his guess was correct, and leaned back in his saddle, the wound I dealt not even bothering him.

"So, when saved from that game by you, then finding herself faced with a war beyond most mortals, she went to her savior again?" I let out a derisive laugh at that. The image of Argo as some fangirl was too amusing even for this situation, it sounded a bit like Silica, but Argo? Never, she had too much pride.

"I suppose one of those helmets would've been sufficient as catalyst, if these magus weren't so dismissive of it you might have been facing down your captor again." My amusement was crushed by the thought of facing Heathcliff again, this time as a Servant.

Or worse, of fighting Kayaba.

"No." I shook my head, dismissing the thought. "Even then Argo was a friend." Lancer's amusement seemed to fade, though his smile stayed strong.

"I see, so you fight to protect your loved ones then?" He closed his eyes for a moment, and once he opened then again all joking was gone and his gaze was hard. "Then it seems I cannot afford to underestimate you any further." I felt my own body tense, the pressure Vlad was emitting, the intensity of it was on a whole new level. It seemed I'd have to focus on surviving again.

My body tensed and my senses were stretched to limits as I waited for an attack, and it wasn't long before I heard the whistle of blades cutting through the air.

A familiar whistle, and for once not targeted at me.

Black and white discs flew through the air, converging on Vlad. Black was knocked aside by the stake he held while white was intercepted by several emerging from the earth. Two more blades followed again, one coming high while the other flew low. With a gesture of Lancer's left hand stakes erupted from the earth behind him, sailing through the air and intercepting the blades. A third pair came from behind, and almost looked like they'd reach before in an impressive display Vlad batted one blade into the other with his lance.

I heard the crunch of dead leaves as Emiya appeared, coming to a stop a few meters to my right, a fourth set of blades already in his hands. "We'll talk after this one is dead. Archer is extracting your Master, once Gikas is safe she'll help us here." The news startled me a bit, but a quick check of my bond with Argo confirmed Emiya's words. After a moment of deliberation I nodded.

"Don't get hit. One stake is all takes to for him to kill you." I lifted my swords a little higher as I spoke, readying myself for action. Emiya didn't respond verbally but nodded, and Lancer looked between the two of us for a moment.

"Hmm, the youngest Servant and a modern magus, the two of you seek to match me then?" There was no need to speak to answer his question, the time for words was over, battle would be our response. "I see. Then come! You face Vlad III, The Lord Impaler! Let the massacre begin!"

* * *

Lung, kidney, neck, heart. I knocked aside stakes that sought each of these locations, carefully managing the gaps in my guard to ensure I could predict the next target. Kanshou and Bakuya moved quickly, intercepting each attack as I slowly moved back. Saber on the other hand, charged forward, using his twin blades, one pitch black blade and yet another new sword, this one a brilliant gold, to splinter and shatter the wooden weapons and an impressive display of acrobatics to avoid those he didn't simply destroy.

We'd fallen into a our roles easily enough, Saber would try to close, forcing Lancer onto the back foot and hopefully distracting him enough for one of my attacks to land. I'd keep some distance and act as a mid-range fighter, Kanshou and Bakuya and Trace Bullet would be my main weapons, if I could get a Triple Linked Crane Wings through those stakes of his I may be able to cripple him, alternatively there were other Noble Phantasms I could trace, but the prana cost of even one would put us at a disadvantage so I had to be sure it would work before tracing it.

Once Atalanta had ensured Gikas' safety she would take up position as long range support. Her arrows were smaller than the swords I shot from my own bow, and less apt to friendly fire. Plus, here, in the forest the huntress may as well be a ghost. She could easily vanish from one sniping position and appear at another, attacking from angles that Lancer couldn't easily predict.

It was a powerful formation, one that would keep any foe at bay, struggling to hold off the Berserker-like fury of Saber, unable to slip past my web of blades and unprepared for the various Noble Phantasms I could Trace. And all the while forced to defend against arrows they couldn't predict from every direction.

It also wasn't enough.

I shifted my stance to the side, avoiding a stake that had sought to pierce my leg from behind, Kanshou and Bakuya flung out but were intercepted by stakes rising from the forest's shadows. And my latest wave of mundane steel countered by an equal number of flying stakes.

Saber wasn't faring much better, his push interrupted again and again as he had to avoid the wooden weapons. There were multiple tears and cuts on his coat and pants, he'd avoided drawing blood this far, but I wasn't sure how long that would last. A wooden shaft flew past my head, impacting Lancer's horse in the side with a pained whinney, and I realized at least one of us was doing well.

A growl tore its way out of Vlad's throat and he made a gesture in my direction. I tensed, ready to move but soon realized no attack was coming my way. The next moment there were numerous small thumps, the cracking of branches and even the creak and bang as a tree fell. I realized that he'd simply bombarded the area that the arrow had come from with a mass of stakes.

A moment later a new arrow came from another direction, off to the left, and struck the horse in one of its hind legs, causing the animal to stumble, an opening that Saber used to shatter Vlad's personal stake before my latest wave of steel hit, one slipped through, leaving a cut on the Servant's arm.

We were winning, slowly attritioning Lancer until he couldn't continue, and that would work eventually. But all he needed to do to reverse the situation was to take any one of us out and the pressure would ease. I leapt to the side, avoiding a stake that had sought my knee as I reviewed Noble Phantasms in my head, looking for the right blade to use and the right time to use it.

* * *

"Thank you." I gave my earnest gratitude to Archer as she set me down on the roof, receiving a terse nod in reply before the Servant turned to return to the forest, ready to fight again. I watched her go for a moment before turning to look at the roof's other occupant. I would've been happier anywhere else, but I wouldn't go any further until Kirito was safe too, and despite my preferences staying with Tohsaka was the safest place I could be for now.

Speaking of the other magus she seemed to hard at work, bent over a circle with a plethora of symbols and geometry held within, carefully placing gemstones around its circumference.

"I'm creating a circle to stabilize and monitor the condition of those within, just in case some idiot needs healing before this is over." She answered the unvoiced question before looking at me, contempt in her eyes. "You can stand there and be useless, or you can help." I snorted, not rising to the bait. I turned to my bond with Kirito, checking the battle, and once I was sure he was okay for now and that there was nothing I could do, I took a few steps towards Tohsaka.

"Do you have chalk, lead paint, and mercury?" Tohsaka laughed at my question, as if the answer was obvious, before gesturing to a corner of the roof. I looked over to see a duffle bag, split open with its contents half out and a few random objects lying on the ground near it.

I knelt in front of the bag, quickly finding a box of chalk and pocketing a few sticks, I grabbed one of two buckets of lead paint before finding a water bottle filled with a silvery liquid. I moved to a spot about a dozen meters from Tohsaka, setting down the paint and pulling a dagger from my waist.

I used the blade to pop the lid off the paint, only now realizing the can I'd grabbed was filled with white fluid, pausing as I looked over it. I stuck a single finger in it before opening one of my circuits, structural analysis told me all I needed to know about its contents and I immediately knew it was satisfactory for my purposes. I weighed the bottle in my hand before dumping about a third of it into the can and screwing the top back on. Lastly I dragged the blade of my dagger across my palm and squeezed, letting my blood drip into the mixture.

After a moment I opened my hand and cast a weak healing mystery, watching the cut slowly close. I looked back to the can, almost overflowing with liquid at this point, before turning to Tohsaka. "Do you have anything to mix this with?" She turned to me, looking towards the can with narrowed eyes before speaking.

"Figure something out yourself." I felt my annoyance rise up before ignoring her, turning back to the can, before making a sudden pause. I held out an empty hand and after a second a long wooden spoon appeared, the projection wouldn't last long, and wasn't durable, but it'd be enough to mix this all up. I got started and had only managed a few rotations before Tohsaka spoke up.

"What are you making anyway?" There was temptation to say something snarky or sarcastic, tell her to figure it out herself or say it was obvious. But in the end I chose to answer frankly.

"Some Formalcraft to use as a base and aid for a mystery. It senses hostile intent based on the prana of the source. So if you have a mundane mugger it won't react at all, but it'll tell us if some of those homunculi get close, or if an enemy Master or Servant appear. It'll glow stronger the more powerful the prana source is." I looked over to Tohsaka, considering something. "That's assuming you don't trigger it." She scoffed at my comment and turned away, eyes growing unfocused for a moment, she was probably checking on her own Servant.

I turned back to my own project, noticing the pink color of the mixture. One more second of stirring was it took before I nodded to myself content. Dismissing the projected spoon I reached into my pockets and withdrew the chalk I'd grabbed, crushing it over the paint mix, the larger chunks fell with a splash before the dust floated down behind it.

I dusted my hands off before holding one above the mixture, thumb and pointer finger held together. After a moment of concentration and a trickle of prana I started to raise my hand, a thick stick of pink chalk coming behind it, held in my fingers. I managed to get a fairly long piece out of the paint mixture and nodded to myself, it'd be enough for my purposes.

"Hmm, Archer, Saber, and Lancer are all in Einzbern territory right now, and Caster and Berserker are both dead. That leaves only two Servants unaccounted for tonight. What're the odds they show up before the night is over?" I raised an eyebrow at the idle comment from the other side of the roof. I wasn't sure if she was thinking aloud or if it was actually directed towards me.

I hesitated over the advantages of revealing this piece of information, but eventually decided that keeping Tohsaka aware of the situation and trying to earn some trust by being up front were worth it.

"Assassin is in there too. She and her Master were going to try and find and eliminate the Einzbern Master." I drew my circle as I spoke, one quick, sure movement. A well practiced maneuver that any magus could do easily enough. With that done it was time to start on the inner geometry.

"You forged an alliance with Assassin then?" There was an edge to the other magus' tone, and it took a second for me to realize it was caution. Understandable, since I'd just revealed the Servant of Stealth and Murder was in the area and allied to a Master other than her. Understandable, but unnecessary.

"More like a coalition than a true alliance. We both wanted to eliminate the Einzbern, and it would be easier for both of us if Saber and I attacked the Servant while they hunted the Master." I paused to assess the shapes I'd drawn, double checking them all and finding them satisfactory. It was then time to start on the runes. "I'm surprised they haven't killed the Master yet, actually, I wonder if the homunculi are slowing them down."

"It was something of that sort." I jerked up, turning quickly and reaching for my claws, before recognizing the voice. The older man who was Assassin's Master stepped forwards, his Servant leaping onto the rooftop behind him. He gave a dirty look towards the formalcraft I'd been working on before ignoring it. "There were complications with our objective. We did what we could, which should have some impact, but there was little else to gain from staying."

"Complications?" I asked for an explanation as I looked back to my work. The rune I'd been working on would need to be erased and redone, but that was the only damage my hasty reaction had caused.

"This." As explanation the man pulled something out of his sleeve, throwing it to the ground between Tohsaka and I. It was, I realized when it landed, a severed hand. Tohsaka flinched back a bit, disgusted, before striding forwards and picking it up. I'd just finished erasing the failed rune with a mystery and so turned my own attention to continuing my work.

* * *

I did my best not to think too hard about what I was handling, keeping the bloody wrist pointed away from me. I grimaced as I saw the flecks of blood on the back of the hand, and used my palm to wipe them away. I wiped again, a bit harder when I saw I didn't get them all, then started to get frustrated when I saw a single dot of red still present.

I was ready to give up and ask Assassin's Master why the hell he was carrying something like this around when I realized the final spot wasn't blood. On a whim I shifted the body part to my left hand and held my right next to it. Though one was dim and faded, the color of the speck perfectly matched the color of the other two seals.

"A command seal?" I let out a quiet voice as I considered what I held in a new light, not quiet enough to go unheard though.

"Something of the like. We killed a few dozen with a similar mark on them, not all of them on the hand." I looked to the older man as he spoke. Eyes closed, and leaning back slightly, he continued. "I am unsure of what it means, however we searched the castle and found no one with a larger mark than that."

"It must be a fragment of a command seal then." My eyes drifted to Gikas as she spoke, still knelt over the mystery she was assembling. "Broken into tiny pieces, and spread across as many homunculi as possible, there's not much there but it must still be enough for them to give Lancer prana." I looked back to the hand I held, and the small mark upon it.

"Probably not enough of a connection to enforce a command either, you're trading three commands for ensuring the enemy can't kill the Master." I paused, tilting my head as I thought about the hand I held. "Well, not all of the Masters."

"If there are more homunculi with those marks, not just in the castle and the forest, but spread out across town simply hiding, hunting them all down could take days." I suppressed a shudder at the claim that Assassin and her Master could eliminate an unknown number of targets across all of Fuyuki in mere days, but brushed it off for the sake of continuing the conversation.

"I'd assume no more than fifty, based on the size of the mark. If you killed a few dozen in the castle then Lancer should be feeling the prana loss." I checked in on Archer using our bond for a moment, wincing as she ducked and dipped around a storm of wooden shafts and pointed tips, escaping to a new sniping position. "It doesn't seem like it though."

"I will kill Lancer then." They were the first words Assassin had spoken since arriving on the rooftop, and it took me a moment to realize it was her that said them.

"If you get the chance make sure to end it in one strike." I turned towards Gikas as she spoke, standing as she did. "Lancer's Noble Phantasm means that even a single scratch of those stakes can take you out." She paused and looked back down towards the Formalcraft she'd been constructing and I realized that while we were talking she'd finished drawing it out.

A greasy feeling spread across my skin as the other magus drew on her prana, triggering her mystery. I was already turning away, noting that Assassin had yet to leave, when I caught the bright red glow of the circle, lighting most of the rooftop in a wash that would be visible even in the forest, and I remembered the girl's earlier words.

It sensed hostile intent, and the more powerful the source's prana the brighter the glow.

"Oho? I wasn't particularly trying, but to break my concealment is impressive." I whipped my head around, there, standing atop the small outcropping that housed the stairs back to the building interior, a distortion in the air. After a moment it faded revealing two figures.

"You say that Rider, but I was putting in my best effort." One spoke, standing just behind the other, he was tall and slim, wearing black robes with his hands tucked in their pockets. His well trimmed blonde hair was at odds with his unkempt beard. He drew one hand from his pocket and began scratching his chin. "Still, I suppose that's all I can manage against the mysteries of the Gikas. I wonder if I could study them later?"

I took half a step back, reaching for my gems as I did. If they were the seventh Master and Servant, as they seemed to imply than they had every reason to attack, they were staring down an alliance of three Masters with only one Servant present. It was their best chance to wipe out the competition.

"Haven't I told you Arthur? Call me by my proper name! Let all know my glory!" My eyes locked onto the Servant, and despite the advantages it would give me, I was a little afraid to know their identity.

"Even in front of enemy Masters eh?" The hand on his chin shifted to his forehead, rubbing it for a second to appease a headache. "Very well. King Ozymandias, could I get the chance to study the mysteries of Saber's Master? In the modern era there is no family better at detection magecraft than the Gikas."

I felt a lump in my throat. Ozymandias, one of Egypts legendary Pharaohs, Ramessess II, the Pharaoh of the Bible, who drove Moses and the Hebrews out of Egypt. I didn't know what his abilities would be, but his fame wouldn't lose to Herakles or King Arthur.

"No, I'm not done with Saber just yet. That boy has been more amusing than I thought he would." The Servant spoke again, running a hand through his short black hair as he did. His skin was a light dark tan, befitting of a man who had lived in the desert, and despite his status as an ancient king he wore modern clothing. Black leather pants and a similar jacket, worn open to show his chest and belly with no shirt underneath.

"You could busy yourself with the Einzbern instead. Their homunculi are impressive for this time, and even in my era they would've been worth keeping. Lancer showed such promise but I think tonight will be his final battle." Rider's gaze shifted, flickering to the forest for a moment, before going back to the rooftop. "Only three Servants will remain at the end of the night it seems, tomorrow may be the finale." I tensed at the implication, and despite the precarious balance of the fight in the forest I readied myself to use my second command seal of the night.

"We shall see if those two, no, three." Ozymadias began speaking only to pause and shake his head before continuing. "Even if he's a simple magus he has proven he can stand against Servants. We shall see how they can stand against my own might." The Servant cracked a small grin, and after a second a golden barrier surrounded him.

A heartbeat later Assassin struck, impacting the spherical barrier from the side, twin daggers pushing on the edge of it. She hung there for a moment, her robes and hair fluttering in the wind and spoke.

"Zabaniya: Raving Shadow Flash." Suddenly her black locks flew into a frenzy. They reached forwards, grasping and clawing at the golden sphere, a screeching sound as they cut across it but failed to pierce. In the middle of this madness her target has a superior smirk on his face.

"A follower of those old men then. I recognize this, it is one of those nineteen angels, but you are no Hassan. With that being the case just who are you to wield their techniques?" Assassin gave no reply, her hair slowing as she fell to the ground.

"Zabaniya: Ichor of Reverie." Following those soft words I felt my ears protest in response to what I could only call a high pitched whine, Rider's barrier shuddered in response to the attack but held firm.

With a wave of his hand the barrier erupted outwards, launching Assassin off the roof and to the courtyard below as she landed lightly. "No matter, this one should be more than a match for you. Come, The Lion-Bodied Beast of the Hot Sand." Prana erupted in from the Servant in a tidal force as he triggered what could only be a Noble Phantasm.

It appeared on the far end of the roof, its claws creating massive gashes in the roof, as it moved forwards, I could barely see its body before it was suddenly wreathed in flame, the damaged roof melting as it strutted forwards and leapt to the ground. It turned to face Assassin, tail languidly shifting, igniting the ground as it moved, and with a single great flex its wings burst open, scattering embers in the air.

"One of my more powerful Sphinxes, and one befitting of the Sun King. It would take a truly powerful Servant to best it, and against those lesser it would take no less than three to claim victory." My eyes locked with the Servant's as he spoke, still standing casually above us three Masters. "This should be enough for that nameless Assassin, but not so overwhelming as to claim victory without some entertainment."

* * *

I ducked under one stake, used Excalibur to shatter another while Night Sky made a cut in the tree I'd just passed, draining prana from it as it did. A wave of stakes approached from the air next, and I had to remember to watch out for more from the ground even as I dealt with these. I ran towards them, both blades at work as I smashed my way through the projectiles.

I couldn't simply dodge the weapons, even in the air like this Lancer had a surprising amount of control over them. The process would've been easier if I simply enlarged Night Sky Sword until I could take them all out at once but I was trying to save the prana, the Life, it had built up for a decisive strike.

I made a false step forwards, before kicking back and going to the right, avoiding the wall of stakes that had appeared. I caught a glimpse of Vlad as he moved, his horse galloping through the woods, the low branches and brush the only thing allowing me to catch him before he ran down Emiya. The mounted Servant's eyes widened as he spotted me flying towards him, and he threw up a hand, four stakes coming from the ground between us to strike me.

I brought Excalibur down on them, cleaving through all four with a single strike, before leaping to cut off Vlad as he tried to reclaim distance. Several arrows flew in from the underbrush, one was avoided as Lancer leaned back, the second and third were knocked aside by the stake he carried, but the fourth impacted his steed in the neck. To a normal horse such a wound would be fatal, but the mount of a Heroic Spirit was apparently more sturdy than that.

With a yell and a raised hand from Vlad a wall of stakes erupted, completely obscuring the direction the arrow had come from. He turned to face me, and I noted Emiya approaching from behind him at a steady pace. Lancer's horse reared back before charging towards me, and I was suddenly faced with trampling hooves and flying stakes.

Then it was a mad rush of blades, left then right, again and again I swung, standing my ground as I shifted side to side, shattering stakes and setting myself to interrupt the charge. At the last minute I dove aside, Night Sky Sword out to the side to cut the steed's leg while Excalibur shattered a stake from the saddle.

The mad rush stalled as Vlad's horse limped and in a fit of desperation a wave of stakes came out, thrown in mass in all directions. I didn't have time to be stunned, prana flowed into Night Sky Sword as I brought it around in a Slant, the blade more than doubling in size as it shattered the weapons.

I spared a glance to see how Emiya had done, a wall of steel blades he'd conjured in front of him still fading, and I was almost ready to look away when I spotted it. A single stake, skewering his right foot from the ground, reaching only a few centimeters above the surface of his foot.

My eyes snapped back to Lancer to see his fierce grin as he waved his left hand. "Bleed!" With the single proclamation I heard the tearing of flesh and splash of blood, erupting from Emiya's back and chest were over a dozen pointed sticks, blood scattered on the dirt around him and more flowing from the wounds.

It was with a growl that I turned back to Lancer. I needed to act now, with one of our fighters down he'd be able to push the advantage he'd suddenly gained, I needed to act immediately or we'd suffer a slow but inevitable loss.

Night Sky Sword was held down and to my right as I pumped prana into it. Excalibur went to work immediately as a new wave of stakes came forth, and I kept preparing Night Sky Sword. I didn't chant, not only would that tell him what I was doing I didn't need to activate my sword as Noble Phantasm, this would be enough.

I felt the wooden sword twitch in my grip, and I knew it was ready. I took a step forwards with my left foot, cleaving through the latest wave of stakes with Excalibur. Night Sky Sword was held to my side, parallel to the ground as it glowed with power.

"Vorpal Strike!" I shouted the words as I took another step, Night Sky Sword jabbing forwards, growing longer, and longer, and longer, tearing through the wooden stakes that Lancer manifested first as an attack and then to try and stop my own blade. Then I hit him, even dulled by his wooden weapons the attack was enough to launch him clear of the saddle. As he flew through the air three arrows impacted his now riderless steed, two in the chest and one dead in the eye. It faded into prana before it hit the ground.

I turned my focus to Lancer, steed or no steed he was still a threat, and he'd already armed himself with a new stake, with four more floating around him as he prepared to face me on foot.

* * *

My chest heaved and I coughed out blood as I tried to speak despite the stakes skewering my lungs. I grit my teeth, using reinforcement and sheer will to force the words out.

"My body... is made of swords." I hit the ground as the stakes that had been supporting me broke off, unable to pierce through the web of steel that now coated my body just under my skin. It took a few attempts but I was able to rise to my feet, using a traced sword as support. Between the body of swords and Avalon I'd be able to fight again soon, but the problem was that if Lancer realized I wasn't dead he could simply skewer me again. Any attack I made had to be absolutely final.

Fortunately, it seemed while I was down Saber and Archer had managed to dismount the enemy Servant, and with that I could make a decisive strike. The sword I was using as support faded, and I stumbled for a moment without the support before steadying myself. "Trace on." I reached out with the same hand. Filling it with a blood red spear, covered in wicked barbs and oozing bloodlust. If I had tried this earlier it would've been too easy for Lancer to escape, simply having his steed carry him beyond the spear's effective range.

Now though, he was a sitting duck.

I took one shambling step forwards, forcing my body to carry me forwards even as I bled and the web of blades in my body scratched and screeched at the movement. The next step was easier, and after that I was moving through sheer momentum.

Saber was engaged with Lancer, his dual blades breaking stake after stake as he pushed Vlad. At the same time however Lancer could manifest his weapons far easier than Saber could break them, and all it took to go down was one wound, as I could well attest.

I poured prana into the lance I held, getting ready to trigger it. The flux of power seemed to alert Lancer to my presence but it was too late already. "Gae Bolg!"

I thrust the lance forwards, the cursed spear of Cu Chulainn seeking the heart of its target. A dense web of stakes erupted from the earth, and with a dull thump the red lance halte-

Wrong.

The lance shattered through the stakes like they weren't there, and continued onwards, but as a final defense Vlad used his own arm, diverting the blow-

Wrong!

The tip sought his heart, but in a desperate move the Servant dove to the side, putting Saber between the weapon and-

WRONG!

The lance bent, time and space asserting what it knew to be true. The tip digging deep into the Lord Impaler's chest, digging out his very heart. The next second I tore the lance out with a flourish, the weapon abruptly snapping back to original length and size as Lancer fell to the ground, already fading into motes of prana.

* * *

Six throwing knives, eight picks, two daggers, a chain and dagger, and my claws. I knew I was fooling myself, counting out my supplies like I could fight Rider with them, but it helped keep me calm while I watched Assassin fight the Sphinx.

Assassin ducked in and out of the Sphinx's range, going under or around swipes of its paws, though even getting that close had caused her robes to smolder on more than one occasion. She leapt back, holding distance for a moment as she drew a dagger, turning it not on her enemy but on her own wrist.

Assassin might not be the best class for direct combat, but that didn't change the fact that she wasn't fighting an enemy Servant, but just one of their Noble Phantasms. Though, Ozymandias had implied earlier he could summon more, when he called this one of his stronger Sphinxes. Which, come to think of it, also implied he had others as strong as this, and at least one that was more powerful.

I don't think my throwing knives are gonna do anything to that, no matter how many I have.

Assassin's blood came forth in spurts from her wrist, but rather than falling to the earth it lingered in the air, building up. "Zabaniya: Delusional Poison Body." Then it lunged forwards, shifting from a red liquid into a purple mist as it approached the Sphinx.

The beast shifted as the fog of poison approached, before roaring, its flames bursting forth and burning the poison away, the fire didn't stop there however, and rushed towards Assassin.

"I see." My eyes snapped to Rider as he spoke. "She has mimicked the miracles of the Hassan's, the ultimate techniques of the greatest Assassins in one person. I do not know how many she possesses, but it is rather impressive, even to mimic one."

"Zabaniya: Febrile Inspiration." The flames blew Assassin back, even as they struck her skin shifted, crystals erupting from it and protecting her, both from the fires and the impact as she struck the ground, rolling to regain her footing.

"It is unfortunate that it will not be enough though." Rider continued to speak, a disappointed look crossing his face. "After all, this is as far as one who cannot innovate will go."

Assassin paused, crouched on the ground, and after a moment spoke. "Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat." An arm, elongated, deformed, and tainted red, stretched out from under her robes, reaching towards the Sphinx. The hand was quickly lost in the flames of the Sphinx. After a moment the arm pulled back, whipping back around to rest in front of Assassin. There was a moment of confusion, as if something wasn't going right, before I saw the charred stump in place of a hand.

"No! I'll not allow her to fall here!" I looked over to Assassin's Master, his arm out and command seals glowing, and I wondered what sort of order he could possibly give to turn this around.

"You're annoying." The casual words were dismissive, and followed by an equally dismissive gesture, one that precluded a pillar of light striking the Master of Assassin, he barely had time to scream before it was over, falling to the ground as a charred corpse, even as the Sphinx pounced, like a cat capturing a mouse I quickly lost sight of the Servant.

Rider then turned fully, and looked at Tohsaka and I. "And now there is only one battle left. We will fight tomorrow night, we only need a suitable place." He leaned back a bit, a wry grin on his face as he thought.

"Pharaoh, one of the locations the Grail can materialize is the city's temple." His Master spoke up from behind the Servant, his own gaze still firmly watching the Sphinx at it clawed at the ground underneath it, it's movements becoming scarcer as time went.

"Ah! Perfect, you will meet us there next night, a few hours after dusk. Make sure to prepare yourselves for it is the King of Kings you must face!"


End file.
